Company board data processing system and method

ABSTRACT

A company board data processing system and method provides a user interface platform to supply information related to members of boards of companies to enable comparison of board members or boards at board member level. Parameters related to board members of a plurality of boards are stored. A used interface is generated which comprises a display of the parameters related to board members for a plurality of boards and/or individuals board members to allow comparison of board members and/or boards at boards member level. The system also allows the user to define a group of boards and/or board members, wherein processed parameters for said group can be used for comparison purposes.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a data processing system and method forprocessing and presenting a wide range of data related to the Board ofDirectors of companies, as well as the members of those Boardsindividually.

BACKGROUND

Investing on the Stock Markets inevitably involves a risk on behalf ofthe investor, equities can go up or down and there is never anyguarantee of a positive return from your investment. However thisuncertainty can be reduced considerably by investing wisely and moreimportantly by investing only in things that you have knowledge of. Youwill have more chance of winning if you bet on a horse based on its formthan you will if you take a guess from a list of starters without anyknowledge of any of them, and so it is with the equity markets that asensible investor will only buy or sell a stock based on soundinformation.

It is the requirement for this information across the stock markets ofthe world which has led to the existence of the world-wide InvestmentBanks and a plethora of financial advisors. It is almost impossible fora fund manager or private investor to be able to make an informeddecision on a stock without some form of advice on the economicconditions of that company, its past history, future prospects,products, staff, etc. . . . This advice can come in many forms dependingon the information sought, for instance there are a large number ofsources of company focussed economic data, information such as theprice/earnings ratio, the profit & loss figures etc . . . , well knownfinancial statistics which can give an indication as to the stock'scurrent worth and potential.

However, there are other forms of information that are more subjectiveby their very nature, and many of the large investment houses have teamsof analysts trying to get behind the financial figures to tell the realstory. The problem with such information is that it is not as reliableas the hard economic facts, it often emanates from person to personmeetings, press conferences and rumour. It is not possible for a fundmanager or investor to attend every annual general meeting, read everyend of year report and interview every Board of Directors, and hence itis the analyst's job to try to do this for the investor, and it is leftto the investor to attempt to read the analyst's report and pick out theinformation that he is looking for. This, inevitably increases the riskof following the information and advice supplied, especially as twodifferent analysts will often have a completely opposite view on thepotential of any particular company. Unfortunately there are very fewalternatives, and whilst the use of analyst reports helps it stillrarely allows for comparison across the whole spectrum of the marketbecause analysts will often have a specialised sector and hencecomparative data across a range of stocks in this field of informationcan be difficult to find and often lacking in user friendliness.

Hence it is the object of the proposed invention to supply a userfriendly tool to aid in information provision.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A first aspect of the present invention provides a company board dataprocessing system and method which provides a user interface platform tosupply information related to members of boards of companies to enablecomparison of board members or boards at board member level. Parametersrelated to board members of a plurality of boards are stored. The boardsof which the board members are members is indicated in the storedparameters. A user interface is generated which comprises a display ofthe parameters related to board members for a plurality of boards and/orindividual board members to, allow comparison of board members and/orboards at board member level.

Thus this aspect of the present invention provides a tool which can beused by analysts to review parameters related to boards at the level ofgranularity of board member parameters.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, parametersfor a group of board members such as a board or some other predeterminedgroup is processed to determine process parameters which can compriseone or a number of: parameter totals, parameter averages and parameterdeviations. Thus the user interface can display such process parametersfor comparison with boards at board member level or with individualboard members.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention the group cancomprise a group of boards in which case the process parameters compriseparameters processed for a number of boards and thus represents totals,averages or deviations for the boards. This enables the board as a wholeand individual members of the board to be compared to a number ofboards.

In an alternative embodiment of this aspect of the present invention thegroup comprises a group of board members. The group of board members cancomprise board members of a single board, or board members across anumber of boards. This enables individual board members to be comparedwith a peer group of board members from a number of boards.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a company board dataprocessing system and method in which parameters related to boardmembers of a plurality of boards is stored. The system receives a userselection of at least one board and/or board member for inclusion in apeer group. Parameters for constituents of a peer group are processed todetermine processed parameters for the peer group and these processedparameters are output. Preferably the processing determines one or morepeer group parameter totals, one or more peer group parameter averagesand one or more peer group parameter deviations.

This aspect of the present invention provides a useful tool to enable auser to select and form a peer group comprised of a number of boardmembers which need not be in the same board. This aspect of the presentinvention also allows the selection of boards for inclusion in a boardpeer group. Parameters for boards are processed to determine processparameters for the board peer group. Thus a board peer group can be usedfor comparison with a board to allow comparative analysis.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention the peer groupdata is stored for at least one user selected peer group. The userinterface can display a list of existing peer groups to allow a user toselect one or more of the existing peer groups. Process parameters forthe or each selected peer group can then be output for display, e.g. forcomparative purposes.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention, theconstituents of the peer groups can be amended. This amendment can takethe form of allowing constituents of a peer group, e.g. a board memberor board, to be transferred from one peer group to another.

In another embodiment of this aspect of the present invention predefinedgroups of boards and/or board members are stored with parameters relatedto the peer groups as predefined peer groups. The user interface candisplay a list of the predefined peer groups to allow a user to selectone or more of them for output for comparative purposes.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a company board dataprocessing system in which predefined groups of boards and/or boardmembers comprising peer groups and predefined parameters related to thepeer groups are stored. The system is arranged to output a list of thepeer groups to allow a user to select one or more of the peer groupsfrom the list. As a result of the selection at least one of thepredefined parameters for the or each selected peer group is output. Theparameters can be displayed and used for comparative purposes.

In this aspect of the present invention a peer group which can compriseparameters for groups of boards and/or board members is predefined. Inone embodiment, however, a user can modify a predefined peer group byadding constituents, i.e. boards or board members, or removingconstituents. Also, constituents can be moved from group to group. Thusthis embodiment provides a flexible tool for comparison of board membersand boards with peer groups.

In one embodiment the predefined parameters for the peer groups compriseprocess parameters. The process parameters can comprise peer groupparameter totals, peer group parameter averages and peer group parameterdeviations.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a company board dataprocessing system and method in which board member related parametersfor a plurality of board members is stored. A deviation of said boardmember related parameters from predetermined parameters is determinedand this is used by a user interface to generate a display of at leastone board member related parameter highlighted in accordance with thedetermined deviations.

This embodiment of the present invention provides a system in whichdeviations of parameters related to board members from predeterminedparameters is displayed in a clear form by highlighting such parametersin accordance with the deviations. This allows these deviations andpatterns in these deviations to be easily distinguishable.

In one embodiment of the present invention the user interface isgenerated to highlight each board member related parameter in one of aplurality of colours, where the colour relates to the relative value ofthe determined deviation.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention thepredetermined parameters relate to a group of board members comprising apeer group. In this embodiment predetermined parameters can relate tototals, averages and/or deviations of the parameters of the members ofthe peer group.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention the userinterface generates a table of data comprising a plurality of cells.Each cell contains a board member related parameter or a predeterminedparameter. Cells containing the board member related parameters arehighlighted in accordance with the determined deviation. In a preferredembodiment these cells are highlighted in one of a plurality of colours,wherein the colours relate to the relative value of the determineddeviations.

In another aspect of this aspect of the present invention there isprovided a company board data processing system and method in whichboard member related parameters are stored for a plurality of boards. Auser interface generates a multi-axis plot of one or more of the boardmember related parameters for one or more boards and/or board members toallow comparison of these parameters. Thus this aspect of the presentinvention provides a graphical user interface tool for the visualizationof company board data at a company board member level of granularity.

In one embodiment of this aspect of the present invention the boardmembers can be grouped into groups and the user interface can generate adisplay of a multi-axis plot of parameters related to a group of boardmembers. In one embodiment this can be used for comparative purposes toallow parameters related to a board or individual members of a board tobe plotted against the group.

In one embodiment of the present invention the axes of the multi-axisplot can be scaled based on a plurality of parameters for a plurality ofboard members. This can comprise totals, averages or deviations forparameters for a plurality of board members.

A further aspect of the present invention provides a company board dataprocessing system in which a number of shares owned by at least oneboard member in a company in which they are a board member are stored.The current share price of the company in which the board member is amember of the board is determined and used with the number of shares todetermine the value of the shares held by the board member to determinea wealth index for the board member. The wealth index comprises anincrease in wealth related to the company when the share price increasesby an amount, e.g. 1%.

This aspect of the present invention provides an indicator of the wealthrelated motivation of a board member to improve the performance of acompany. If a board member holds a large number of shares, they have apersonal interest in improving the performance of a company so that theshare price increases.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a system for analyzinga created company board. Parameters related to a plurality of boardmembers are stored. A user can select at least one board member forinclusion in at least one created company board. Board parameters forconstituents of the created company board are generated. The boardmember parameters and/or the generated board parameters can be output toallow the created board to be the subject of analysis.

Thus this aspect of the present invention provides a means by which auser of the system can create a “fantasy” board comprised of a number ofboard members currently members of other boards. Parameters related tothe board members for the created company board can then be analysed.Thus this aspect of the present invention can be used as a tool by whichusers can identify suitable board members for building a company boardfor a new company or for replacing board members of an existing companyboard.

A further aspect of the present invention provides a board member levelrecruitment and analysis tool and method in which parameters related toa plurality of board members are stored. A user is able to select atleast one board member to be the subject of analysis and to select atleast one other board member to be used as a comparison in the boardmember analysis. A user interface generates a display of the parametersof the selected board members subject to analysis and the selectedcomparison board members to allow recruitment related comparison of thetwo sets of parameters.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a company board dataprocessing system and method in which a graphical display is generatedto show the performance of a company and a board member history on atime basis. This aspect of the present invention allows a user toidentify the effect of a board member on the performance of a company.

Although the present invention has been described hereinabove withreference to a number of separate aspects, in accordance with thepresent invention, any aspect of the present invention describedhereinabove can be used in conjunction with any other aspect of thepresent invention.

The present invention is applicable to financial analysis and inmanagement of companies. For example, the present invention can be usedby fund managers for managing a portfolio of investments by analyzingcompany board member parameters. The presentation of the data can be byany suitable output means such as a display or printer. The output canalso be an output over a network to provide for presentation, e.g.display, at a remote location. The present invention is applicable to astand alone system or a network system in which the server receivesrequests from a user of a client and outputs data for presentation tothe user by the client.

All aspects of the present invention can be implemented on dedicatedhardware, a combination of dedicated hardware and suitably programmedhardware, or on a programmed general purpose computer. The presentinvention thus encompasses computer readable instructions forcontrolling a computer to carry out the methods. Computer readableinstructions can be provided to a general purpose computer on anysuitable carrier medium such as a transient medium, e.g. an electrical,optical, microwave, acoustic or radio frequency signal (e.g. a signal(carrier wave) carrying computer readable instructions over a networksuch as the Internet), or a storage medium such as a floppy disk, harddisk, CD-ROM or solid state memory device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a company board data processing systemin accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the top level structure of the user interfaceinformation pages;

FIG. 3 illustrates the information page structure of the BoardAssociations data section;

FIG. 4 illustrates the information page structure of the BoardRemuneration data section;

FIG. 5 illustrates the information page structure of the BoardCharacteristics data section;

FIG. 6 illustrates the information page structure of the DirectorAssociations data section;

FIG. 7 illustrates the information page structure of the DirectorRemuneration data section;

FIG. 8 illustrates the information page structure of the DirectorCharacteristics data section;

FIG. 9 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Summary’ informationpage;

FIG. 10 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Single & MultiAssociations’ information page;

FIG. 11 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Remuneration SummaryTable’ information page;

FIG. 12 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Remuneration SummaryBubble Chart’ information page;

FIG. 13 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Remuneration Ratios’information page;

FIG. 14 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board CharacteristicsNetwork/Biographical’ information page;

FIG. 15 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board CharacteristicsChange Table’ information page;

FIG. 16 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board CharacteristicsDiversity Table’ information page;

FIG. 17 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board CharacteristicsDiversity Radar Chart information page;

FIG. 18 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Peer GroupManagement’ information page;

FIG. 19 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Peer Group Member’information page;

FIG. 20 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Advanced Search’information page,

FIG. 21 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Search Results’information page;

FIG. 22 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Summary’information page;

FIG. 23 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Single & MultiAssociations’ information page;

FIG. 24 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director RemunerationRatios’ information page;

FIG. 25 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director CharacteristicsRoles’ information page;

FIG. 26 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director CharacteristicsExperience Table’ information page;

FIG. 27 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director CharacteristicsExperience Radar Chart’ information page;

FIG. 28 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Peer GroupManagement’ information page;

FIG. 29 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Peer GroupMember’ information page;

FIG. 30 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Advanced Search’information page;

FIG. 31 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Search Results’information page;

FIG. 32 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Timeline’information page;

FIG. 33 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Share Price History’information page;

FIG. 34 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board and ShareholderReturns’ information page;

FIG. 35 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Time Analysis’information page;

FIG. 36 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Experience overTime’ information page;

FIG. 37 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director MultiAssociations’ information page;

FIG. 38 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Share PriceHistory’ information page;

FIG. 39 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Peer Group AlertsSet-Up’ information page;

FIG. 40 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Board Peer Group AlertsResults’ information page;

FIG. 41 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Peer Group AlertsSet-Up’ information page; and

FIG. 42 is a screen shot of a user interface ‘Director Peer Group AlertsResults’ information page.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

General Introduction

There are many systems that provide information regarding companieslisted on the stock markets of the world, but that there is a gap in themarket for an analysis tool that is focussed on the actual members ofthe Boards of these companies. Such information is currently hard tofind and more importantly difficult to analyse and often unreliable. Thesystem of the embodiment of the present invention allows people to viewand analyse the people who actually run these listed companies and henceoffer a platform for people to form an indicative view of another veryimportant aspect in measuring the potential success, or otherwise, ofsuch companies that has so far been very difficult to grasp.

The system offered by the embodiment of the current invention allows theuser to select an entire Board and analyse and compare the credentialsof each member of that Board. Also, one or more other Boards can beselected, by the user, and corresponding data can be displayedsimultaneously to allow a comparison of the selected Boards against oneanother, hence providing the statistics that can be used to measure therelative merits of one Board against another. This system provides aplatform of user interactive analysis that has not been previouslyavailable and that will greatly benefit anyone investing in stock marketlisted companies.

However, the usefulness of such a tool is not restricted to thefinancial markets.

Anyone who wished to compare the skills, experience and backgroundhistory of one or more Director level individuals, say for recruitmentpurposes, would also find this tool very effective in their analysis.The system allows the user to select an individual and view data on allof his Board-level roles, and also offers the chance to select one ormore other individuals to be displayed simultaneously and used in theanalysis.

Hardware

The preferred embodiment of the current invention is illustrated in FIG.1 and comprises an architecture structure that is made up of a DataRepository System, 1, a Database System, 2, 3, 4, 5, a Data Processor,6, a web Server system, 7, 8, 9, and a User's computer, 11.

The Data Repository System, 1, is located at a central data entry andmanagement location, 100. It comprises a unified data entry point and isthe tool with which all raw data is entered into the system. The DataRepository System 1 acts as a master database for the data in the systemand receives data via one of two methods: manual data entry; orautomatic data entry.

The manual data entry system comprises a computer system with a userinterface based at the central data entry and management location, 100.This user interface allows manual entry of new data raw data parametersas well as the entry of some manual analytics. It comprises twointerfaces, one for the entry of data relating to a Director Profile andthe other for the entry of data relating to a Board profile. The rawdata comprises simple numerical values, such as a Director's salary,that are described hereafter. The manual analytics data entry comprisessuch data as, for example, a company time-line share price graph thathas been manually amended to display key corporate actions during thetime period displayed, for example the departure of a CEO from the Boardor a new company share issue, such as that shown in FIG. 33.

The automatic data entry system comprises on on-line feed to a number offinancial data providers, such as FT, AFX and Hernscott. This data isdownloaded periodically, daily in the case of the preferred embodimentof the invention, into a data store, where it is checked both by manualand automatic means before being populated onto the Master Database.

The raw data parameters that are entered via the manual and automaticdata entry systems comprise parameters related to Board members andparameters related to Boards and include:

-   Salary-   Bonus-   Pension Contributions-   Other remuneration-   Role-   Number of Options awarded-   Stock Price-   Option Exercise Price-   Options time to expiry-   Dividend Yield-   Number of Directors at the start of the Year-   Number of Directors at the end of the Year-   Equity awarded-   LTIP Contributions awarded-   Number of Executives and Non-executives in the company-   Age of Director-   Time in Company of Director-   Time on Board of Director-   Board's policy retirement Age-   Time to retirement for Director-   Name-   Role-   Director's Direct Compensation-   Director's sex-   Director's Nationality-   Director's past employment-   Director's Qualifications-   Director's Shared external Directorships-   Total Company Revenue-   EBITDA—earnings before interest tax depreciation amortisation-   Operating Profit-   Company's net income-   Company's fixed assets-   Company's current liabilities-   Company's long-term liabilities-   Company's long-term creditors-   Company's total assets-   Company's fixed assets-   Company's current assets-   Company's total liabilities-   Company's PE ratio-   Company's Auditors-   Company's Financial Advisors-   Company's Stock Brokers-   Company's Financial PR-   Company's Solicitors

The central data entry and management location, 100, containing the DataRepository System, 1, acting as the Master Database is connected via adedicated link to a slave Database system, 200, located at a differentlocation. The Database system, 200, provides the publicly accessibledata as a mirror of the data in the Master Database. The Databasesystem, 200, comprises two systems, 300 and 500, each comprising aDatabase Processor, 4 and 5, connected to a Database, 2 and 3, which actas slaves to the Master Database. There are two database systems toprovide redundancy in the case of the failure of one system. The dataentered onto the system by means of the Data Repository System, 1, isloaded onto the two database processors, 4 and 5, which perform a seriesof analytical calculations to transform the raw data into a form that isuseful for the system, e.g. the calculation of complex variables, ordata set averages and deviations. The two databases, 2 and 3, are thenpopulated with the plurality of predetermined calculated parameters, andthe raw data, for storage. In this way the Master Database is keptoffline and this mirroring of data takes place regularly, e.g. daily atnight when usage is low. This system enables the Master Database to becontinuously updated at the central data entry and management location.

The two database processors, 4 and 5, are further connected to a dataprocessor 6. The Data Processor 6 is used to perform user end requestedcalculations, for instance it will calculate peer group parameters,which are discussed hereafter. These parameters are stored in thedatabases, 2 and 3, and are specific to users. Thus user specificparameters such as Peer Group data are generated and stored in thedatabases, 2 and 3. The Database Processors, 4 and 5, download the datafrom the Databases, 2 and 3, and transmit the data to the DataProcessor, 6.

The Data Processor 6 is connected to two a third system, 500, thatcomprises two Web Servers, 7 and 8 and a Web Page Data Processor. Thesystem, 500, provides the method of accessing the data in the system,200, i.e. a web interface. The connection is made across a firewallsystem for security. Again the existence of two Web Servers is based onthe necessity for redundancy in the system. The Data Processor 6, actingas an Application Server to provide data to the Web Servers, 7 and 8,sorts and processes the data into a useable form for the user end of thesystem, and communicates that data onto the Web Servers, 7 and 8.

The Web Servers, 7 and 8, are both connected to a Web Page Data Store,9. By communicating with the Web Page Data Store, 9, the Web Servers, 7and 8, generate web pages that are to be communicated to the client'suser interface, based on the data received from the Data Processor, 6.

The Web Servers, 7 and 8, are connected to an IP network, 10, e.g. theinternet. A User's Web Browser, 12, on a User's Computer, 11, is alsoconnected to said IP Network, 10. When requested by the User's WebBrowser, 12, the Web Servers, 7 and 8, will transmit said generated webpages to the User's Web Browser, 12, via the IP Network, 10. Also theWeb Servers, 7 and 8, can transmit Java Script and Java Applets tocontrol the client's user interface, and to generate a number of the webpages on the User's Web Browser, 12. Thus the user interface can beserver side generated, client side generated or a mixture of the two.

The User's Web Browser, 12, will then display said web pages in the formof a user interactive display on the User's Computer, 11. The User's WebBrowser, 12, can also communicate requests for information back upthrough the system. This may involve a request for new processedparameters, for example based on a new user selected peer group that theuser has set up on his browser. In this scenario a request would betransmitted back to the Data Processor, 6, via the IP network, 10, andone of the Web Servers, 7 or 8. The Data Processor will process therequest and transmit the new processed parameters back to the User'sComputer in the same manner as the initial parameters were transmittedas discussed above. In this way the Data Processor, 6, generates userspecific parameters, e.g. peer groups, and these are stored, along witha User ID, in the databases, 2 and 3, to provide for a level ofpersonalisation when a user accesses the data in the Databases, 2 and 3.

User Interface Description

In the embodiment of the present invention, the user interface displayedon the user's web browser is split into two main sections, as shown inFIG. 2: one supplies information regarding one or more Boards and offerscomparative analysis of these Boards against other Boards; and the otheroffers the same functionality at Director level, allowing the comparisonof one or more individual Directors against other Directors. In bothcases the system is able to display a large number of parameters for anyBoard and/or Director through a variety of medium, including tabularform and a number of graphical displays.

Data Fields Described by Screen

FIG. 2 shows the main structure of the system's visual user interfaceinformation pages. The pages are organised into a hierarchicalstructure, with each branch containing further levels of detail belowit. As mentioned, above, the user must first select either the Boardrelated section or the Director related section. This structure canclearly be seen in FIG. 2 where the Board related pages are on the lefthand branch and the Director related pages are on the right hand branch.In each of the two sections the user can select from a list of maintopics headings:

-   -   Summary    -   Associations    -   Remuneration    -   Characteristics    -   Profile

Each of these options will display top-level data related to theirtopic. Some of these topics have further layers of increasingly detaileddata, and/or different graphical display methods, in a plurality ofrelated screens and each of the data layers will now be discussed inmore detail, initially by looking at the Board related branch and thenthe Director related branch.

Board Summary

The Board Summary, as shown in FIG. 9, has two themes: firstly itprovides a general overview of the members of a Board and displays thefollowing basic information relating to those members: Executive Name-names of all of the Board Directors Role- The position held by theDirector in the Company. Time on Board- The length of time the Directorhas been on the Board (in years). Time in Company- The length of timespent by the Director in the company (in years). Time to Retirement- Thelength of time to retirement, based on the company's policy retirementage (in years). Stakeholder Representative- specific stakeholdergroup(s) represented by the Director for example shareholdersrepresentatives, union, employees..

The second theme to the Board summary is a list of major shareholders inthe company, giving their name and an indication as to the size of theirholding.

Board Associations

The Board Associations section has two levels beneath it, as shown inFIG. 3, named ‘Single and Multi Associations’, as shown in FIG. 10, and‘Multi Associations’.

These two pages provide lists of associations that the Directors of aBoard have with the Boards of other companies. A ‘Single Association’occurs when a Director on the Board of one particular company is alsoserving on the Board of another company, and is the only person from thesubject company to have any association with that latter company. A‘Multi Association’ occurs when two or more Directors from oneparticular Board both have associations with another particular Board,i.e. two or more Directors are currently serving on that other Boardtogether, or at least one Director has served on another Board at thesame time as at least another Director was also serving on that Board,if at least one of them is currently still sitting on that other board.These two features can be seen on FIG. 10, where an example ‘SingleAssociation’ is Georgh Ehrnrooth (bottom row), who is a Director on theBoard of Nokia OJY, the subject company, and is also currently aDirector on the Board of Wartsila OYJ ABP, and an example of a ‘MultiAssociation’ is Georg Ehrnrooth and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, fifth row fromthe bottom, who are both on the Board of the Subject company Nokia OYJand are also both currently on the Board of Sampo OYJ.

Board Remuneration

The Board Remuneration section can be broken down into five mainsections:

-   -   Remuneration Summary    -   Direct Remuneration—annual cash based pay.    -   Equity Linked Remuneration—annual equity linked pay.    -   Equity Linked Wealth—total equity linked benefits received.    -   Remuneration Ratios

This hierarchy can be seen in FIG. 4. These sections will now bediscussed in turn.

The Remuneration Summary, as shown in FIG. 4, consists of four separatepages, each displaying the summary information in a different manner.The Remuneration Summary Table, as shown in FIG. 11, displays thefollowing parameters: Executive Name- names of all of the BoardDirectors Role- The position held by the Director in the Company. TotalDirect Remuneration- the sum of salary, bonus, pension (definedcontribution) and other non-equity remuneration. Total Equity LinkedRemuneration- amount of remuneration in the form of equity, shares, andoptions for a particular financial period. Total Remuneration for thePeriod- the sum of the Total Direct Remuneration and the Total EquityLinked Remuneration, each as described above. Total Equity LinkedWealth- the value of equity held + the estimated market value of optionsheld.

It can also be seen in FIG. 11 that the cells in the table arehighlighted in a plurality of different colours, this feature gives anindication of the diversity of the data within the table and will bediscussed in more detail hereafter.

The Remuneration Summary Bubble Chart, as shown in FIG. 12, is a chartthat plots the three variables from the Remuneration Summary Table, i.e.the Total Direct Remuneration, the Total Equity Linked Remuneration andthe Total Equity Linked Wealth onto the same graph providing a simple aquick analysis method for the data. The x-axis on the graph plots theDirect Remuneration value, and the y-axis plots the Total Equity LinkedRemuneration values for each individual Director on the Board. Each datapoint is then expanded in a circular form, wherein the diameter of eachcircle is proportional to the value of the Total Equity Linked Wealth ofeach Director. The circles are colour coded to indicate the differencebetween different types of data, e.g. executive directors, non-executivedirectors, averages, etc. . . . It can also be seen in FIG. 12 thatvarious averages and ‘peer group’ averages are plotted, these willdiscussed hereafter.

The Direct and Equity Remuneration Bar Chart is a standard bar chart,with each Director placed along the x-axis, and the values of theirrespective Total Direct Remuneration and Total Equity LinkedRemuneration for a particular financial period shown as bars, the sizeof which are relative to a scaled y-axis (for example in £000s ofpounds). Lines are also placed on the plot to indicate the values of theDirector and peer group averages mentioned above.

The Total Equity Wealth Chart is another bar chart showing each Directoralong the x-axis with a bar extended upwards relative to the y-axisindicating the relative value of the Total Equity Wealth of eachDirector. Again, some average values are also indicated.

The Direct Remuneration page provides a breakdown of the Total DirectRemuneration figures given in the Board Remuneration Summary, for aparticular financial period. The display is in the form of a table, withformat similar to that of the Remuneration Summary in FIG. 11. Theparameters displayed are: Executive Name- names of all of the BoardDirectors Role- The position held by the Director in the Company.Salary- base annual pay Bonus- payments made in addition to salaryPension- employer's contribution to the employee's pension scheme Other-other ad hoc payments, such as relocation and fringe benefits TotalDirect- sum of salary, bonus, pension and other income.

The Equity Linked Remuneration page provides a breakdown of the TotalEquity Remuneration figures given in the Board Remuneration Summary, fora particular financial period. The display is in the form of a table,with format similar to that of the Remuneration Summary in FIG. 11. Theparameters displayed are: Executive Name- names of all of the BoardDirectors Role- position each Director holds on the Board. Value ofEquity Awarded- value of company shares awarded in the period. LTIPValue- value of Long Term Incentive Plan equity contributions. IntrinsicValue of Options Awarded- the amount by which the current stock priceexceeds the exercise price of the options. Note: if the stock price isbelow the exercise price, there is no intrinsic value. Estimated Valueof Options Awarded- Current estimate of the market value of Optionsgained, based on the latest closing stock price using the Black Scholesoption pricing model, or a modification thereof. Total Equity LinkedRemuneration the sum of all of the for the Period- other equity linkedvariables in the table, i.e. the sum of the variables in this list.

The Remuneration Ratios page is a series of ratios of some of theremuneration parameters mentioned above. The display is in the form of atable, as shown in FIG. 13. The ratios displayed are: Executive Name-names of all of the Board Directors Role- The position held by theDirector in the Company. ‘Bonus/(Bonus + Salary)’ Ratio ‘EquityLinked/Total Remuneration’ Ratio % Change the percentage change of anindividual's Remuneration- remuneration from the one fiscal period toanother, e.g. from the ‘99 financial year to the ‘00 financial year.Wealth Delta- the percentage increase in a Directors Wealth due to a 1%increase in a particular company's share price, i.e. a measure of aDirector's personal financial gain relative to the company share pricesuccess.Board Characteristics

-   -   The Board Characteristics section can be broken down into five        main sections:    -   Roles    -   Network/Biographical    -   Experience    -   Change    -   Diversity        as can be seen in FIG. 5. These sections will now be discussed        in turn.

The Board Characteristics ‘Roles’ page provides a breakdown of andparameters relating to the Role that each individual Director has in thecompany. The page is displayed in a tabular form, similar to that shownin FIG. 25 (FIG. 25 is the Director Characteristics Roles page, but theformat is very similar). The parameters displayed on this Roles pageare: Executive Name- names of all of the Board Directors Role- Theposition held by the Director in the Company. Time to Retirement- Thelength of time to retirement, based on the company's policy retirementage (in years). Shared External Directorships- The number of Directorson the subject Board who serve on other boards together. Time in Role-number of years the Director has been in his/her current role on Board.Time in Board- number of years the Director has been on the Board, inany role. Time in Company- number of years under employment withcompany. Time in Sector- number of years the Director has worked in themarket sector.

The Board Characteristics ‘Network/Biographical’ page provides abreakdown of and parameters relating to the a Director's current Boardlevel commitments, their history of working Board level commitments, andsome basic personal details. The page is displayed in a tabular form, asshown in FIG. 14. The parameters displayed on this Network/Biographicalpage are: Executive Name- names of all of the Board Directors. Role- Theposition held by the Director in the Company. Boards to Date Listed- thetotal number of Boards of public listed companies on which the Directorhas served to date including current Boards positions. Boards to DateUnlisted- the total number of Boards of limited companies on which theDirector has served to date including current Boards positions. Boardsto Date Other- the total number of Other Boards on which the Directorhas served to date including current Boards positions. Current BoardsListed- the total number of Boards of public listed companies on whichthe Director currently serves. Current Boards Unlisted- the total numberof Boards of limited companies on which the Director currently serves.Current Boards Other- the total number of Other Boards on which theDirector currently serves. Average Time in Other the average length oftime spent by Companies- individual Directors in companies other thanthe subject company (in years). Age- the age of the Director Education-the number of qualifications (degree level, inc. professionalqualifications) held by the Director. Gender- Shows either the gender ofthe Director or the proportion of the Directors that are male.Nationality- individual nationalities for each Director, and anationality mix ratio for the average values (where a value of 1indicates the most diverse Board possible and a value of 0 indicates aBoard comprising all directors of one single nationality).

The Board Characteristics ‘Experience’ section consists of two pages, asshown on FIG. 5, a Table and a Radar Chart, providing the sameinformation in two different forms. The pages provide a breakdown of andparameters relating to the Experience of the members of the Board, bymixing together some previously discussed parameters from other pages.The pages are displayed firstly in tabular form, similar to that shownin FIG. 26, and in graphical form similar to that shown in FIG. 27(FIGS. 26 and 27 are the Director Characteristics Experience pages, butthe format is very similar). The parameters displayed on the tabularpage are: Executive Level- these figures are given for the executivescollectively, unlike each individual Director's statistics as before.This column defines between Executive Directors, Non-ExecutiveDirectors, and the Board as a whole. Current Boards Listed- the totalnumber of Boards of public listed companies on which the Directorcurrently serves including current Boards positions. Boards to DateListed- the total number of Boards of public listed companies on whichthe Director has served to date including current Boards positions. Timein Sector- number of years Director has worked in the market sector.Time on Board- number of years a Director has served on the Board, inany role. Age- the age of the Director Education- the number ofqualifications (degree level, inc. professional qualifications) held bythe Director.

The Board Characteristics Experience Radar Chart is a multi axis chartthat will display the parameters displayed in the Experience Table pageon one visual chart. The radar charts will be discussed in more detailhereafter.

The Board Characteristics ‘Change’ section also consists of two pages,as shown on FIG. 5, a Table and a Radar Chart, providing the sameinformation in two different forms. The pages provide a breakdown of andparameters relating to the stability of the Board, by mixing togethersome previously discussed parameters from other pages and introducingsome new parameters from them. The pages are displayed firstly intabular form, as shown in FIG. 15, and in graphical form as shown inFIG. 27 (FIG. 27 is the Director Characteristics Experience page, butthe format is very similar). The parameters displayed on the tabularpage are: Executive Level- these figures are given for the executivescollectively, unlike displaying each individual Director's statistics asin pages discussed earlier. This column defines between ExecutiveDirectors, Non-Executive Directors, and the Board as a whole. AttritionRate- Proportion of Directors who have left in the previous year.Succession Factor- the standard deviation of the time to retirement.This measures the clustering of Directors and the proximity of Directorsto retirement. Standard Deviation of Time on standard deviation from theBoard- average value of the time on the Board of all members of eachexecutive group. Average Time in Other standard deviation from theaverage Companies- value of the time in other companies for all membersof each executive group. Direct Remuneration- the average DirectRemuneration for each executive group. Equity Linked Remuneration- theaverage Equity Linked Remuneration for each executive group.

The Change Radar Chart, as for the Radar Chart in the previous section,is a multi axis chart that will display the parameters displayed in theChange Table page on one visual chart. These charts will be discussed inmore detail hereafter.

The Board Characteristics ‘Diversity’ section also consists of twopages, as shown on FIG. 5, a Table and a Radar Chart, providing the sameinformation in two different forms. The pages provide a breakdown of andparameters relating to the diversity of the Board, by displaying thediversity of some previously discussed parameters from other pages. Thepages are displayed firstly in tabular form, as shown in FIG. 16, andsecondly in graphical form as shown in FIG. 17. The parameters displayedon the tabular page are: Executive Level- these figures are given forthe executives collectively, as with the change statistics above. Thiscolumn defines between Executive Directors, Non-Executive Directors, andthe Board as a whole. Standard standard deviation from the Deviation ofaverage time served on the Board Time on Board- by all of the Directorsin each executive group. Standard standard deviation from the Deviationaverage time served in the of Time in company by all of the Company-Directors in each executive group. Standard standard deviation from theDeviation average time served in the market of Time in sector by all ofthe Directors in Sector- each executive group. Standard standarddeviation from the Deviation of average number of Boards Listed Boardsthe Directors of each to Date- executive group have served on. Standardstandard deviation from the average age of Deviation the Directors ofeach executive group. of Age- Standard standard deviation from theaverage Deviation number of qualifications gained by of Education- theDirectors of each executive group. Gender- the proportion of males ineach executive group. Nationality- a nationality mix ratio where a valueof 1 indicates the most nationally diverse Board possible and a value of0 indicates a Board comprising all directors of one single nationality.

The Diversity Radar Chart, as for the charts in the previous twosections, is a multi axis chart that will display the parametersdisplayed in the Change Table page on one visual chart, as shown in FIG.17. These charts will be discussed in more detail hereafter.

Board Profile

The Board Profile provides some general contact information for thesubject company, e.g. address, phone number, web site etc. It alsoprovides a short list of some basic financial data for the company, suchas the Revenue Figures, Profit & Loss Figures and some key ratios, suchas the P/E Ratio. Thirdly it provides a list of advisers to the company,such as it's auditors, solicitors and financial advisors.

Director Summary

The Director Summary, as shown in FIG. 22, provides a general overviewof the positions held by a Director and displays the following basicinformation relating to those positions: Executive Name- names of thecompanies with whom the Director has a Board level position Role- Theposition held by the Director on each Board. Time on Board- The lengthof time the Director has been on the Board (in years). Time in Company-The length of time spent by the Director in the company (in years). Timeto Retirement- The length of time to retirement, based on the company'spolicy retirement age (in years). Stakeholder Representative- specificstakeholder group(s) represented by the Director for exampleshareholders representatives, union, employees..

The second theme to the Director summary is a list of major shareholdersin the company, giving their name and an indication as to the size oftheir holding.

Director Associations

The Director Associations section has two levels beneath it, as shown inFIG. 6, named ‘Single and Multi Associations’, as shown in FIG. 23, and‘Multi Associations’. These two pages provide lists of associations thatthe Director has with other Directors through the Boards he/she serveson. A ‘Single Association’ occurs when a Director on the Director of oneparticular company is also serving on the Director of another company,and is the only person from the subject company to have any associationwith that latter company. A ‘Multi Association’ occurs when the Directorsits on more than one Board with another Director.

Director Remuneration

The Director Remuneration section can be broken down into six mainsections: Remuneration Summary Direct Remuneration- annual cash basedpay. Equity Linked Remuneration- annual equity linked pay. Equity LinkedWealth- total equity linked benefits received. Remuneration RatiosOptions, Pensions, and LTIP

This hierarchy can be seen in FIG. 7. These sections will now bediscussed in turn.

The Remuneration Summary, as shown in FIG. 7, consists of four separatepages, each displaying the summary information in a different manner.The Remuneration Summary Table, which is similar to that shown in FIG.11 (FIG. 11 is the Board Remuneration Summary, but the format is verysimilar), displays the following parameters: Executive Name- names ofthe companies with whom the Director has a Board level position Role-The position held by the Director on each Board. Total DirectRemuneration- amount of cash based remuneration, for a particularfinancial period (e.g. a financial year). Total Equity LinkedRemuneration- amount of remuneration in the form of equity, shares, andoptions for a particular financial period. Total Remuneration for thePeriod- the sum of the Total Direct Remuneration and the Total EquityLinked Remuneration, each as described above. Total Equity LinkedWealth- the value of equity held + the estimated market value of optionsheld.

As with the Board Remuneration Summary Table in FIG. 11, the Directordata tables are highlighted in accordance with the diversity of thedata, this will be discussed hereafter.

The Remuneration Summary Bubble Chart, similar to that shown in FIG. 12(FIG. 12 is the Board Remuneration Summary Bubble Chart, but the formatis very similar), is a chart that plots the three variables from theRemuneration Summary Table, i.e. the Total Direct Remuneration, theTotal Equity Linked Remuneration and the Total Equity Linked Wealth ontothe same graph providing a simple a quick analysis method for the data.The x-axis on the graph plots the Direct Remuneration value, and they-axis plots the Total Equity Linked Remuneration values for eachposition that the Director holds. Each data point is then expanded in acircular form, wherein the diameter of each circle is proportional tothe value of the Total Equity Linked Wealth of the Director in eachposition held. The circles are colour coded to indicate the differencebetween different types of data, e.g. executive Director positions,non-executive Director positions, averages, and ‘peer group’ averages.

The Direct and Equity Remuneration Bar Chart is a standard bar chart,with each Director position placed along the x-axis, and the values oftheir respective Total Direct Remuneration and Total Equity LinkedRemuneration for a particular financial period shown as bars, the sizeof which are relative to a scaled y-axis (for e.g. in £000s of pounds).Lines are also placed on the plot to indicate the values of the Directorand peer group averages mentioned above.

The Total Equity Wealth Chart is another bar chart showing each Directoralong the x-axis with a bar extended upwards relative to the y-axisindicating the relative value of the Total Equity Wealth of eachDirector. Again, some average values are also indicated.

The Direct Remuneration page provides a breakdown of the Total DirectRemuneration figures given in the Director Remuneration Summary, for aparticular financial period. The display is in the form of a table, withformat similar to that of the Board Remuneration Summary in FIG. 11. Theparameters displayed are: Executive Name- names of the companies withwhom the Director has a Board level position Role- The position held bythe Director on each Board. Salary- base annual pay Bonus- payments madein addition to salary Pension- employer's contribution to the employee'spension scheme Other- other ad hoc payments, such as relocation andfringe benefits Total Direct- sum of salary, bonus, pension and otherincome.

The Equity Linked Remuneration page provides a breakdown of the TotalEquity Remuneration figures given in the Director Remuneration Summary,for a particular financial period. The display is in the form of atable, with format similar to that of the Board Remuneration Summary inFIG. 11. The parameters displayed are: Executive Name- names of thecompanies with whom the Director has a Board level position Role- Theposition held by the Director on each Board. Value of Equity Awarded-value of company shares awarded in the period. LTIP Value- value of LongTerm Incentive Plan equity contributions. Intrinsic Value of OptionsAwarded- Current Realisable Profit on Options awarded. Estimated Valueof Options Awarded- Current estimate of the market value of Optionsgained, based on the latest closing stock price using the Black Scholesoption pricing model. Total Equity Linked Remuneration the sum of all ofthe for the Period- other equity linked variables in the table, i.e. thesum of the variables in this list.

The Remuneration Ratios page is a series of ratios of some of theremuneration parameters mentioned above. The display is in the form of atable, as shown in FIG. 24. The ratios displayed are: Executive Name-names of the companies with whom the Director has a Board level positionRole- The position held by the Director on each Board. ‘Bonus/(Bonus +Salary)’ Ratio ‘Equity Linked/Total Remuneration’ Ratio % ChangeRemuneration- the percentage change of an individual's remuneration fromthe one fiscal period to another, e.g. from the ‘99 financial year tothe ‘00 financial year. Wealth Delta- the percentage increase in aDirectors Wealth due to a 1% increase in a particular company's shareprice, i.e. a measure of a Director's personal financial gain relativeto the company share price success.

The Remuneration Options, Pensions and LTIP page provides a revue ofthese parameters.

Director Characteristics

The Director Characteristics section can be broken down into three mainsections:

Roles

Network/Biographical

Experience

as can be seen in FIG. 8. These sections will now be discussed in turn.

The Director Characteristics ‘Roles’ page provides a breakdown of andparameters relating to each Role held by the Director. The page isdisplayed in a tabular form, as shown in FIG. 25. The parametersdisplayed on this Roles page are: Executive Name- names of the companieswith whom the Director has a Board level position Role- The positionheld by the Director on each Board. Time to Retirement- The length oftime to retirement, based on the company's policy retirement age (inyears). Shared External Directorships- The number of Directors who serveon other Boards with the Director. Time in Role- number of years theDirector has been on his/her current role on Board. Time on Board-number of years the Director has been on the Board, in any role. Time inCompany- number of years under employment with company. Time in Sector-number of years the Director has worked in the market sector.

The Director Characteristics ‘Network/Biographical’ page provides abreakdown of and parameters relating to the a Director's current Boardlevel commitments, their history of working Board level commitments, andsome basic personal details. The page is displayed in a tabular form,similar to the Board Characteristics Network/Biographical page as shownin FIG. 14. The parameters displayed on this DirectorNetwork/Biographical page are: Executive Name- names of the companieswith whom the Director has a Board level position Role- The positionheld by the Director on each Board. Boards to Date Listed- the totalnumber of Boards of public listed companies on which the Director hasserved to date including current Board positions. Boards to DateUnlisted- the total number of Boards of limited companies on which theDirector has served to date including current Board positions. Directorsto Date Other- the total number of Other Boards on which the Directorhas served to date including current Board positions. Current BoardsListed- the total number of Boards of public listed companies on whichthe Director currently serves. Current Boards Unlisted- the total numberof Boards of limited companies on which the Director currently serves.Current Boards Other- the total number of Other Boards on which theDirector currently serves. Average Time in Other the average length oftime spent by Companies- individual Directors in companies other thanthe subject company (in years). Age- the age of the Director Education-the number of qualifications (degree level, inc. professionalqualifications) held by the Director. Gender- Shows the gender of theDirector. Nationality- shows the nationality of the Director.

The Director Characteristics ‘Experience’ section consists of two pages,as shown on FIG. 8, a Table and a Radar Chart, providing the sameinformation in two different forms. The pages provide a breakdown of andparameters relating to the Experience of the Director, by mixingtogether some previously discussed parameters from other pages. Thepages are displayed firstly in tabular form, similar to that shown inFIG. 26, and in graphical form as shown in FIG. 27. The parametersdisplayed on the tabular page are: Executive Name- names of thecompanies with whom the Director has a Board level position CurrentBoards Listed- the total number of Boards of public listed companies onwhich the Director currently serves including current Board positions.Boards to Date Listed- the total number of Boards of public listedcompanies on which the Director has served to date including currentBoard positions. Time in Sector- number of years Director has worked inthe market sector. Time on Board- number of years a Director has servedon the Board, in any role. Age- the age of the Director Education- thenumber of qualifications (degree level, inc. professionalqualifications) held by the Director.

The Director Characteristics Experience Radar Chart is a multi axischart that will display the parameters displayed in the Experience Tablepage on one visual chart. The radar charts will be discussed in moredetail hereafter.

Director Profile

The Director Profile provides some general personal information for theDirector, e.g. date of birth, nationality etc. It also provides a shortCV showing the positions that he/she currently holds and positions thatthe Director has held in the past, with a brief description of each ofthose positions.

User Interface

Having looked at the structure of the information pages displayed on theuser's web browser, the method by which the user navigates around thesepages and how they select which data is to be displayed will now bedescribed.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the general layout of the user interface. Thedisplay comprises two parts: a fixed thin navigation pane on the lefthand side of the display which displays the list of availableinformation page windows that a user can select, these were discussedabove, as well as other features such as a search facility and somehistorical selection lists, that will be discussed hereafter; the secondpart of the display comprises a changeable information display panewhich can display a series of web style pages that each provide adifferent set of the actual Board/Director related information pagesthat are received from the web server. A user can select which page ofdata he wishes to have displayed in the right hand pane by selectingfrom the hierarchical list in the left hand navigation pane.

The navigation pane provides a lower level break down of available pagesas the user navigates around the system. For instance in FIG. 9 the toplevel structure of the system, as shown in FIG. 2, is visible, whereasin FIG. 11, where the user has selected the ‘Board Remuneration Summary’screen, it can be seen that the navigation list has been extended toshow the levels below that of the screen which is being displayed, henceallowing the user to access different methods of display for the ‘BoardRemuneration Summary’ information; ‘Table’, ‘Bubble Chart’, ‘Direct andEquity Chart’ and ‘Equity Wealth Chart’ in this case.

Once the user has selected either the Board section or the Directorsection, by clicking on one of the two labelled tabs in the top lefthand corner of the screen, they have to next choose a particularBoard/Director to be used as the subject of the data. This selectionwill instruct the system to download all relevant information for thatBoard/Director to then allow the user to navigate around the differentscreens in the navigation panel viewing different data sets related tothat Board/Director.

This Board/Director selection is conducted by using one of two searchsystems which are situated in the navigation pane. FIG. 9 shows thesesearch facilities situated below the screen navigation list in thenavigation pane on the left hand side of the display. One search option,the first box below the screen navigation list, comprises a manual entrysearch system which allows the user to enter some data which the systemthen uses to search the database. Another search option is called the‘Advanced Search’ and is situated in the box below the manual searchdata entry boxes, this involves the user defining a search by selectingfrom a number of parameters in a pre-defined list that the system willuse to narrow the search of the database.

The manual search facility offers two methods of data entry for thesearch; a user can either input a company/person's name into the‘Company Name’ text box displayed on the navigation pane; or the usercan input another form of company related designation data, such as theSEDOL CODE—a financial markets company ID (the data type can be selectedfrom a drop-down box), by inputting data into the ‘Company ID’ text boxon the navigation pane. The system will then conduct a search of thedatabase and produce a search results list such as those shown in FIGS.21 and 31. The user can then select any Board/Director he wishes to useas the subject of the analysis in the information display pages byclicking on a Board/Director's name from the search results list. Thesystem will then retrieve the parameters for that chosen Board/Directorand initially display the ‘Summary’ page for that subjectBoard/Director, as shown in FIG. 3.

The Advanced Search facility is initiated when the user clicks on the‘Advanced Search’ button in the navigation pane. A screen such as thatin FIG. 20 will be displayed for an advanced Board search, and such asthat in FIG. 30 for and advanced Director search. The user will thenselect at least one of the pre-defined parameters, such as the countryor sector of the Board/Director they wish to search for and/or byinputting at least one piece of data into any one of the data entryfields, such as defining a Market Capitalisation of the company of theBoard they wish to search for. The system will then conduct a search ofthe database based on the data entered by the user and produce a searchresults list, again such as those shown in FIGS. 21 and 31. The user canthen select any Board/Director he wishes to use as the subject of theanalysis in the information display pages by clicking on aBoard/Director's name from the search results list, the system will thenretrieve the parameters for that Board/Director and initially displaythe ‘Summary’ page for that subject Board/Director, as shown in FIG. 9.

A third method of choosing a subject Board/Director to be the subject ofthe information pages is to select a name from the ‘Viewed Boards’ listat the bottom of the navigation pane. The system will store a list ofthe last n subjects to have been chosen by the user and display them atthe bottom of the navigation pane. This allows the user to easily returnto a recent set of displayed data without having to pass through eitherof the two search methods again.

Once a subject Board/Director has been chosen and its data downloadedand displayed, the name of that Board/Director will be displayed in thetop left-hand corner of the display on all of the information pages.When a new Board/Director is chosen, the name displayed will be updatedaccordingly.

Many of the information pages display the information in tabular form,and there is a marked difference between the style of these tables forthe Board section and the Director section in terms of how the data isdisplayed, these two different styles will now be explained, firstlywith reference to Boards.

The rows of the Board related tables of data are split up into threemain categories, the top category comprising the Executive Directors,the second category comprising the Non-Executive Directors and the thirdcategory comprising All Positions. FIG. 11 shows how this structure isdisplayed. The top category of FIG. 11 lists the names of the ExecutiveDirectors of ‘Barclays’, the second category lists the names of all ofthe Non-Executive Directors of Barclays, and the bottom categorycontains the average values for all of the Directors together. It shouldbe noted that this format allows the user to analyse the data for everyindividual on the selected subject Board, as well as the average valuefor the ‘executives’ category, an average value for the ‘non-executives’category and the average value for all members of the Boardcollectively. Thus, this set-up provides a large amount of segregatedand averaged data to allow the user to analyse a detailed view of allaspects of a Board at the same tine.

The Director section display is shown in FIG. 25. It can be seen thatthe selected Director is Tessen von Heydebreck and that he serves on twoBoards, as an Executive Director with Deutsche Bank, and a Non-ExecutiveDirector with BASF AG. In a similar manner to the Board tables, thesedifferent positions are split in to separate categories. Any Executivepositions will be displayed in the top category, and any Non-Executivepositions in the second category, with an average for all positions heldshown in the bottom category. Hence, all aspects of an individualDirector's commitments are displayed at one time, as well as an averagefor those positions, providing a comprehensive analysis platform withouthaving to look up each position individually.

Peer Groups

One of the features of the embodiment of the present invention are theso called ‘Peer Groups’ that allow the user to compare a selectedsubject Board/Director with one or more corresponding Boards/Directors.These Peer Groups act as a benchmark with which to compare and contrastdifferent Boards/Directors, they can comprise one single Board/Direct toallow a direct comparison between two particular companies/individualDirectors, or they can contain a plurality of differentBoards/Directors, grouped for example by sector.

As mentioned above, the tables of data for both the Board and Directorsections are separated into three categories, and as well as showingdata for the individual Directors of a Board or the individual Positionsheld by a Director, each of these categories also displays an averagevalue for all data within that category. Below these average values, ascan be seen in FIGS. 11 and 25, is displayed an average value for all ofthe members of a Peer Group, this can be used as a comparative measurefor the individual Board members/Director positions, as well as for theaverage values for each category.

A key function of these Peer Groups is to enable the user to define theconstituents of any Peer Group and can select any Peer Group from theirrecords to be used in the comparison. At the bottom of the navigationpane, above the Viewed Boards/Directors section is the Peer Group Buttonwhich when selected opens up the Peer Group management screens. Thesescreens work in exactly the same way for the Board sections as for theDirector section and will therefore be explained together, withreference to a number of corresponding diagrams. FIGS. 18 and 28 showthe first page of the Peer Group management pages. This page displaysall of the Peer Groups that have been set up by the user to date. We cansee in FIG. 18 that the user has set up three Peer Groups: PG1, PG2 andPG3, and that those Peer Groups contain seven, three and two membersrespectively. From the Peer Group amendment screen the user is able toview the members of any Peer Group, amend the members of any Peer Group,or set up a new Peer Group.

To view the members of a Peer Group, shown in FIGS. 18 and 28, the usersimply clicks on the name of one of the Peer Groups and a screencontaining a list of Peer Group members is displayed, such as thoseshown in FIG. 19 for the Board Peer Group PG1 and in FIG. 29 for theDirector Peer Group PG2. Hence it can be seen that the Board Peer GroupPG1 consists of seven Boards, including those of Barclays and Marks &Spencer, and the average parameter values displayed on a table of dataon a Board information screen, for this Peer Group, would be equal tothe average value for all of the groups in the Peer Group.

The user can easily amend the members of a Peer Group whilst in the PeerGroup members screen, as in FIG. 19 or 29, by adding a new member ordeleting an existing Peer Group member, as well as being able to move orcopy a member to another Peer Group. To delete a member the user wouldcheck the check box to the left of any current Peer Group member andthen click on the delete button in the top left hand corner of thescreen. To copy or move a member the same process would be used exceptthat having selected a member to copy or move the user would chooseanother Peer Group from a drop-down menu in the top right corner, once amember and other Peer Group have been chosen the user clicks either thecopy or move button and the action is completed.

Adding a new user to a Peer Group is slightly more complicated andrequires the use of the two searching tools, manual and advanced, thatwere discussed earlier. A user can search as described earlier bycompany name, company ID or by using the advanced search and a searchresults page is displayed, as in FIGS. 21 and 31. If the Board/Directoris present in the search result list, the user will check the check boxnext to the displayed name and then select a Peer Group from a drop-downmenu in the top right hand corner of the screen into which they wish toplace Board/Director. Once a subject and Peer Group have been chosen,the user clicks on the ‘Add To Peer Group’ button above the searchresults list and the action is duly performed.

Setting up a new Peer Group mainly involves a combination of thefeatures that have already been discussed, once the initial namingprocedure has been carried out. In the main Peer Group page, FIGS. 18and 28, the user can set up a shell for a new Peer Group by typing aname into the text box next to the ‘New’ button above the list ofcurrent Peer Groups. Once a name has been entered and the ‘New’ buttonhas been selected, the shell is created and the name of the new PeerGroup are displayed along with the other current Peer Groups. The usercan then enter that new Peer Group's member screen and add new members,or indeed copy/move members from other group's member screen to the newPeer Group.

Once one or more Peer Groups have been set up, the user is able to usethe Peer Group comparison facility in one of the main Board/Directorinformation screens. Most of the tabular and graphical screens contain acombination of a series of drop-down menus in the top right hand cornerof the screen. These enable the user to perform one of three actions:choose a Peer Group to act as a comparison; choose and individual memberof any one Peer Group to act as a comparison, or add the current subjectBoard/Member to a Peer Group.

When the user selects a Peer Group from the ‘Compare to Peer Group’drop-down list, the system will display the average value for allmembers of that Peer Group for all of the parameters in any informationtable or graph. For instance, in FIG. 14, the Compare to Peer Groupdisplay box in the top right hand corner of the screen is indicatingthat Peer Group PG1 has been selected for the comparison to Nokia OYJ,the subject Board, named in the top left hand corner of the screen. ThePeer Group averages in the table refer to the average value of all ofthe members of Peer Group PG1. If the user wished to compare Nokiaagainst a different Peer Group they are able to select a different PeerGroup name from the Compare to Peer Group selection drop down menu.

The user is able to compare the subject Board, Nokia OYJ in the examplein FIG. 14, against a particular member of the selected Peer Group, PG1in this example, by selecting one of the members of PG1 from the‘Compare to Peer Member’ drop-down list, below the ‘Compare to PeerGroup’ list in the display. The user could, for instance, choose ‘Marks& Spencer's’ from the PG1 Peer Group list, this would then display theaverage values for the Marks & Spencer's Board on the table of data andhence allow the user to compare the Boards of Nokia OYJ with Marks &Spencer's directly.

The third drop-down menu in the top right hand corner of the screenallows the user to add the current subject Board, Nokia OYJ in theexample of FIG. 14, to any current Peer Group. The user simply clicks onthe drop-down menu and a list of existing Peer Groups is displayed, theuser can then select one of these per groups and the subject Board isadded to that Peer Group automatically.

The Peer Group system works in exactly the same manner for the Directorinformation screen as explained above for the Board information screens.The only difference being that the Peer Groups are made up of individualDirectors and the ‘Compare to Peer Member’ list will offer a list ofsaid individuals to allow the user to compare the subject Director toany one specific other Director.

It should be noted that the Peer Group comparisons are also use in thegraphical information pages. For instance their values are plotted onthe bubble charts for comparison purposes, as mentioned earlier. Also,they are used as a comparative means on the radar charts, FIG. 17 showsan example of this where the thin line is that of the selected Board,Royal Bank of Scotland, and the shaded area represents the values forthe selected Peer Group PG1. Again these pages have the functionality tochange the Peer Group, view an individual member of a Peer Group or addthe subject Board to a Peer Group.

Colour Coding

Another feature of the embodiment of the current invention, as mentionedearlier, is the highlighting of the cells of the tables of informationto visually indicate the diversity of the data. Again the Peer Groupsplay an important part in this function as the reference point fromwhich the diversity is calculated. FIG. 14 shows a table of data for theNetwork/Biographical parameters. Displayed above the table is a‘Variance key’ that indicates the association between the colour of thehighlighting of each cell and the measure of variance of the data in thecell, as compared to its corresponding Peer Group average value. Thecells are highlight in relation to the number of standard deviationsthat the data contained therein is away from the average value of theselected Peer Group. If the data is within ±1 standard deviations of thePeer Group average, the cell will not be highlighted. If the cell isbetween −1 and −2 or +1 and +2 standard deviations of the average of thePeer Group it is highlighted in a light colour, and so on where thehighlighting becomes darker with the more standard deviations the datais away from the Peer Group average.

This feature provides easily recognisable information to a user.Patterns and trends can be identified in the data much more easily usingthis feature. It removes the need for a user to laboriously read everydata parameter in the tables in order to analyse the data.

Radar Charts

Another feature of the embodiment of the current invention is the radarcharts, and especially the method used to determine the scale of theaxes. FIG. 17 shows a Diversity Radar Chart for the Royal Bank ofScotland and Peer Group PG1. This radar chart is the correspondinggraphical representation of the data in the Diversity Table in FIG. 16.The first aspect to note is the number of columns of data within theDiversity Table and the corresponding number of axes on the DiversityChart. The chart will display as many parameters from the table as ithas data for. In many cases the Diversity table is fully populated withdata and the Diversity Chart will have a potential 8 axes. However, ifthere is insufficient data available, i.e. there is no data for thesubject Board or there is no data for the selected Peer Group, the radarchart is adjusted and the axis related to the parameter withinsufficient data is removed and hence not displayed. It can be seenfrom FIGS. 16 and 17 that there is only sufficient data in four of theparameter columns of the Diversity Table, the Gender column does containsome data but is not fully populated, hence the corresponding RadarChart only has four axes.

The scaling of the axes is based on a similar method to that of thehighlighting mentioned above, in that they are bound by a range ofstandard deviations. The axes are bound by a range of ±3 standarddeviations from the average of a Peer Group. Hence the minimum value ofeach axis on the Radar Chart equals −3 standard deviations from theaverage of a Peer Group and the maximum value of each axis equals +3standard deviations from the average of a Peer Group. In this particularembodiment of the invention the Peer Group used for this scaling is notthe user selected Peer Groups, it comprises all of the Boards/Directorsthat are based in the same country as the subject Board/Director. Forexample in FIG. 17, the Royal Bank of Scotland is based in the UK, hencethe scale of the axes in the corresponding Diversity Chart are ±3deviations from the average value for all other Boards on the Databasethat are also based in the UK.

This feature provides a useful method of displaying the data to alloweasy analysis by a user. The multi axis plot facilitates comparativeanalysis of a multitude of parameters related to Boards and/or Boardmembers.

Date Change

Another feature of the embodiment of the invention is the date changefacility. On each information display page there is a date in the topleft corner, below the subject Board/Director name, as can be seen inFIGS. 16 and 17 for example. The date displayed in the box denotes thepoint in time to which the information displayed relates. The user isable to change this date, by selecting another date from the drop downmenu, hence allowing them a very simple tool to view historical dataacross a wide date range.

Mouse Over

Another feature of the embodiment of the invention is the ‘mouse-over’facility. The system displays small information notes next to a mousepointer as the user moves around the screen to enable the user toquickly understand the functionality of a particular feature on thedisplay.

Additional to this is a mouse-over feature to aid the colour coding ofdata tables facility discussed above. As a user passes their mouse overa shaded cell in a table of data a small information note is displayedshowing the specific value of deviation that the particular parameterhas from the Peer Group average value, this feature adds more detail tothe colour coding system discussed above, when it is required by theuser.

Pre-Defined Peer Groups

In another embodiment of the current invention a plurality ofpre-defined Peer Groups are be loaded onto the database. The user isable to use, select, and even amend, these pre-defined Peer Groups inthe same way as the current user defined Peer Groups, discussed above.These pre-defined Peer Groups are organised into logical groups, such asby sector or geographic region and allows the user to compare a subjectBoard/Director against one of these default Peer Groups without havingto set-up a Peer Group themselves.

Fantasy Board

In another embodiment of the current invention the Board and Directorsections are mixed together and function as one unit displaying data forboth individual Directors as well as Boards in the same informationtables and on the same information charts. This allows for analysis ofBoards against Directors, e.g. a user can set up a ‘fantasy Board’ bysetting up a Peer Group of Directors and then compare that fantasy Boardagainst a real Board. Or, in turn, an individual Director can becompared against the average value for a Peer Group of one or moreBoards.

Enhanced Board/Member Associations Functionality

In another embodiment of the current invention the Board/DirectorAssociations information pages will not only display links between themembers of the subject Board/subject Director and other positions thatthey may hold, but also associations from a subject Board/Director to atarget Board Director, via a plurality of other Boards/DirectorsAssociations. For Example, this will allow the user to input theirsubject Board/Director and a ‘target’ Board/Director with which theywould like to make contact. The system will search the database anddisplay a chain of associations which link the two user selectedBoards/Directors together. This display may provide a search result suchas:

-   -   Board 1 is linked to Board 3 via Mr. A;    -   Board 3 is linked to Board 5 via Mr. B;    -   Board 5 is linked to Board 2 via Ms. C;    -   Where Board 1 is the ‘subject’ Board and Board 2 is the ‘target’        Board.

This functionality allows the user to build networks of Boards andDirectors for use in a plurality of business situations.

Company Advisors Associations

In another embodiment of the current invention, the associationsfunctionality is extended to encompass the advisors of companies, a listof which is already provided on the Board Profile information page foreach Board. In this embodiment a user is able to conduct a search ofAssociations based on a particular advisor, i.e. make the advisor thesubject of the information and display the associations for thatadvisor. For example, if a particular company has been in trouble as aresult of one of their advisors, a user can conduct a search of theAssociations of that advisor to other Boards and the system woulddisplay a list of any other Boards that use the same advisor. This isuseful, for example in the field of fund management, where an advisorhas recently shown weakness whilst acting for one of a Fund Manager'sholdings, that fund manager could perform a due diligence check toascertain if any of his other shareholdings are advised by the sameadvisor by conducting an Associations search on that advisor.

Board Summary ‘Timeline’

In another embodiment of the current invention a ‘Board Timeline’ chart,as that shown in FIG. 32, is displayed on a second information displaypage under the ‘Board Summary’ section. This information page displays abar chart style chart over a discrete time period, pre-set or userdefined, showing bars to represent the periods during which eachDirector has been on the Board, and the position they held, during thesaid time period.

Director Associtaion ‘Multi’

In another embodiment of the current invention a graphical bar chartstyle plot is displayed to provide a more user friendly method ofviewing the Director Multi Associations. An example of this graphicalinformation page is in FIG. 37. The names of each Director are placedalong the y-axis of a bar chart, with time (in years) along the x-axis.A bar is then plotted alongside each Director's name for a period inwhich they held a Director level role, colour coding is used todifferentiate between the different companies on which they served. Thischart provides a much more user friendly method of reviewing the multiassociations of a number of Directors.

Analyses Topic Section

In another embodiment of the current invention the Board and Directorsections comprise a sixth main topic heading, in addition to the fiveexisting main sections as discussed above and shown in FIG. 2, named‘Analyses’. This extra section is added to the user interface navigationpane, as shown in the navigation pane on the left hand side of FIGS. 32and 37, between the Characteristics and Profiles sections. The twosections contain different sub-layers, and will now be discussed inturn, beginning with the Board section.

Board Analyses

The Board Analyses section can be broken down into five main sections:

-   -   Board Share Price History    -   Board and Shareholder Returns    -   Board Time Analysis    -   Board Experience over Time    -   Options and Equity Scenarios

Each of these sections will now be discussed in turn.

Board Analyses ‘Board Share Price History’, as shown in FIG. 33,displays the share price of the subject company over a discrete timeperiod, pre-set or user-defined, with major Board related corporateactions indicated graphically on top of the chart. For example, if a CEOresigns, a mark will be placed on the graph to indicate the point intime when this occurs. This data can be loaded onto the databaseautomatically or manually, as discussed above, via the analytics dataentry method on the Data Repository System (1, FIG. 1) at the CentralData entry Management Location (100, FIG. 1). This facility enables theuser to analyse the fluctuations in the company share price relative tosuch Board related corporate events and allows them to gain a fullerunderstanding of share price volatility at such points in time. Hencethis embodiment offers the user a tool to assess the importance of Boardstability for a particular company and hence gain an insight into futureshare price fluctuations on the announcement of a Board relatedcorporate action.

Board Analyses ‘Board and Share Holder Returns’, as shown in FIG. 34,displays a mix of different data types on one graphical display,including Director Direct Remuneration, Director Equity remuneration,Company Income and the Company Share Price. The main element of thegraph is a bar chart with two bars for each year along the x-axis, oneof these bars displays information relating to the remuneration (furtherbroken down into sections of: salary, other direct, equity, options andLTIP) of the Directors of the Board during that year, the other showingthe Net Income of the Company in the same year. On top of the bar chartis displayed the share price of the subject company over the discretetime period, pre-set or user-defined, displayed. This graph enables theuser to analyse a number of different features at once, for instance therelationship between company net income and the share price, or that ofthe Directors income in relation to the share price, plus many more.

Board Analyses ‘Board Time Analysis’, as shown in FIG. 35, graphicallydisplays a summary of the external commitments of the members of aBoard. The graph comprises a bar chart with three bars displayed in eachyear along the x-axis, each bar to represent board-level positions heldon ‘listed’, ‘unlisted’ and ‘other’ boards respectively. The y-axisprovides a measure of the average number of those board-level positionsheld by the members of the subject board during each particular year.This graph is a graphical representation of some of the informationgiven in the Board Characteristics ‘Network/Biographical’ sectiondiscussed earlier.

Board Analyses ‘Board Experience over Time’, as shown in FIG. 36,displays a bar chart offering a summary of the experience of the membersof the Board on a yearly time basis. Each year plotted along the x-axiscontains two bars: the first of which provides an average value, for allof the Board members, of the time spent in the current company, and ameasure of how much of that time was spent serving on the Board; thesecond bar represents the average number, for all the members of theBoard, of all the Boards on which they currently serve and all theBoards on which they have served to date. This is another graphicalrepresentation related to the experience parameters displayed in theBoard Characteristics ‘Experience’ Table information page.

Board Analyses ‘Options and Equity Scenarios’ allows the user to assessthe change in the value of the Board held options and equity by runningscenarios related to the stock price of a company. The user can enterparameters for an imaginary rise or fall in the price of a stock and thesystem will calculate and display the effect that this change in stockprice would have on the option and equity valuation of the Board of thatcompany.

Director Analyses

The Director Analyses section can be broken down into two main sections:

-   -   Director Share Price History    -   Options and Equity Scenarios

These sections will now be discussed in turn.

Director Share Price History, as shown in FIG. 38, is a tool to allowthe user to assess the impact of a Director on the company share priceduring each of his Director level positions. A discreet time period,pre-set or user selected, is used and a separate share price chart foreach of the companies on whose Board the Director has served during thattime are arranged on the same screen. On top of these share price graphswill be displayed time related information relating to when the Directorserved with each company and the corresponding role which he held oneach Board. This data, as with the Board time line analysis data isentered onto the system using the manual analytics software package onthe Data Repository System (1, FIG. 1) at the Central Data entryManagement Location (100, FIG. 1).

By reviewing the information displayed the user is able to quickly gainan impression of the historical impact of the arrival and departure ofthe Director in question at each of his past companies, as well as theperformance during his/her time on the Board.

Hence, the system is able to provide an indicative historicalperformance analysis for the Director.

Director Analyses ‘Options and Equity Scenarios’ allows the user toassess the change in the value of the Director held options and equityby running scenarios related to the stock price of a company. The usercan enter parameters for an imaginary rise or fall in the price of astock and the system will calculate and display the effect that thischange in stock price would have on the option and equity valuation of aDirector of that company.

Peer Group Alerts

In another embodiment of the current invention The Peer Group Alertssection forms part of the Board Peer Groups Section discussed above.These alerts target allow the user to receive targeted corporate actionbased information about a Board and/or Director Peer Group as follows:

Board Peer Group Alerts allows the user to define a list of criteria forall the members of a Peer Group of Boards, on the action of which analert will be flagged up to the user indicating the event that takesplace. FIG. 39 shows an example of the definitions screen, it can beseen that there is a wide range of Director level and Board levelcriteria which can be defined for the members of the Peer Group that hasbeen selected from the drop-down at the top of the screen. If any one ofthe pre-defined variables is met, for instance a Chairman of one of theBoards within the Peer Group leaves, or the average age of the Boards inthe Peer Group rises above the selected level, then a message indicatingthe event will be supplied to the user, either by e-mail or on logindepending on the user's preference, as shown in FIG. 40.

This facility allows the user to target the corporate news that theyrequire. Instead of sifting through large quantities of literature tofind the information that is useful to them, the user can define theareas in which they are interested, by using the screen shown in FIG.39, for the Boards in which they are interested, by setting up a PeerGroup containing those Boards, as discussed above, and hence receivenews that is personally targeted at the user.

Director Peer Group Alerts allows the user to define a list of criteriafor all the members of a Peer Group of Directors, on the action of whichan alert is flagged up to the user indicating the event that takesplace. FIG. 41 shows an example of the definitions screen, it can beseen that there is a wide range of Director level criteria which can bedefined for the members of the Peer Group that has been selected fromthe drop-down at the top of the screen. If any one of the pre-definedvariables is met, for instance a Director within the Peer Group leaveshis position, or the average Direct Compensation within the Peer Grouprises above the selected level, then a message indicating the event issupplied to the user, either by e-mail or on login depending on theuser's preference, as shown in FIG. 42.

This facility allows the user to target the corporate news that theyrequire. Instead of sifting through large quantities of literature tofind the information that is useful to them, the user can define theareas in which they are interested, by using the screen shown in FIG.41, for the Directors in which they are interested, by setting up a PeerGroup containing those Directors, as discussed above, and hence receivenews that is personally targeted at the user.

Although the present invention has been described hereinbefore withreference to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to a skilledperson that modifications lie within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

For example, although the system has been described as being executed ona network, it could be implemented on a single computer or any suitablecomputer system.

1. A company board data processing system comprising: a board memberstore storing parameters related to board members of a plurality ofboards organised into boards; and a user interface generator forgenerating a user interface displaying said parameters related to boardmembers for a plurality of boards and/or individual board members toallow comparison of boards, at board member level, and/or board members.2-197. (canceled)
 198. A company board data processing system as inclaim 1, wherein said user interface generator is adapted to displaysaid parameters for each member of at least one board and/or an averagevalue of one or more of said parameters of said members of at least oneboard.
 199. A company board data processing system as in claim 1,further comprising a board parameter processor for processing parametersfor a group of boards or board members to determine processed parameterscomprising at least one of one or more parameter totals, one or moreparameter averages and one or more parameter deviations, wherein saiduser interface generator is adapted to generate a user interface todisplay at least one of said processed parameters for at least one groupof boards or board members to allow comparison with at least one boardor board member.
 200. A company board data processing system as in claim1, wherein said user interface generator is adapted to generate saiduser interface to display processed parameters comprising at least oneof one or more totals, averages and deviations of said parametersrelated to a group of board members or boards to allow comparison withat least one board or board member.
 201. A company Board data processingsystem as in claim 1, including a ranking processor for ranking membersof a group of boards and/or board members based on relative value ofsaid parameters; wherein said user interface generator is adapted togenerate a user interface to display said parameters of said boardsand/or board members of said group to indicate ranking.
 202. A companyBoard data processing system as in claim 199, including a rankingprocessor for ranking groups of boards and/or board members based onrelative value of said processed parameters; wherein said user interfacegenerator is adapted to generate a user interface to display saidprocessed parameters of said groups of boards and/or board members toindicate ranking.
 203. A company data processing system as in claim 199,wherein said group of board members comprises a user selected and/orpre-defined group of boards or board members assigned as a peer group.204. A company board data processing system as in claim 199, furthercomprising: user selector means for receiving a user selection of atleast one board and/or board member for inclusion in a peer group;wherein said group of boards or board members comprises a user selectedgroup of boards or board members assigned as a peer group; saidparameter processor is adapted to process parameters for constituents ofa peer group to determine at least one of one or more peer groupparameter totals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one ormore peer group parameter deviations; and said user interface generatoris adapted to generate a user interface displaying at least one of saidprocessed peer group parameters.
 205. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 204, wherein said user selector means is arranged toreceive a user selection of at least one board for comparison with atleast one board peer group, and said user interface generator is adaptedto generate a user interface to display the parameters related tomembers of said at least one selected board, to allow the or each boardto be the subject of analysis.
 206. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 204, wherein said user interface generator is adaptedto generate a user interface to display the parameters related toindividual members of said at least one selected board.
 207. A companyboard data processing system as in claim 204, wherein said user selectormeans is arranged to receive a user selection of at least one boardmember for comparison with said board member peer group, and said userinterface generator is adapted to generate a user interface to displaythe parameters related to said at least one selected board member, toallow said at least one selected board member to be the subject ofanalysis.
 208. A company board data processing system as in claim 204,further comprising a peer group data store storing data for one or moreuser selected peer groups; wherein said user interface generator isadapted to generate a user interface displaying a list of existing peergroups based on said stored peer group data; said user selector means isarranged to receive a user selection of one or more peer groups fromsaid list; and said user interface generator is adapted to generate auser interface displaying at least one of said processed parameters forat least one of said selected peer groups.
 209. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 204, further comprising a comparison groupamendment means allowing a user to amend the constituents of a peergroup.
 210. A company board data processing system as in claim 209,wherein said peer group amendment means is adapted to allow a user tocopy one or more constituents of a peer group to another peer group.211. A company board data processing system as in claim 204, furthercomprising a searching means arranged to allow a user to search for aparticular board in the board member store by inputting a specificcompany or board member name.
 212. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 211, wherein said searching means is adapted to allowa user to search for a particular board in said board member store byselecting one or more parameters from a pre-defined list.
 213. A companyboard data processing system as in claim 1, further comprising: a storestoring pre-defined groups of boards and/or board members comprisingpeer groups and parameters related to said peer groups; wherein saiduser interface generator is adapted to generate a user interfacedisplaying a list of said pre-defined peer groups; the system furthercomprising user selector means for receiving a user selection of one ormore said pre-defined peer groups from said list; wherein said userinterface generator is adapted to generate a user interface displayingat least one of said stored pre-defined peer group related parametersfor said selected pre-defined peer group.
 214. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 213, wherein said stored pre-defined peergroup related parameters relate to at least one of one or more groupparameter totals, one or more group parameter averages and one or moregroup parameter deviations.
 215. A company board data processing methodcomprising: storing parameters related to board members of a pluralityof boards organised into boards; and generating a user interfacedisplaying said parameters related to board members for a plurality ofboards and/or individual board members to allow comparison of boards, atboard member level, and/or board members.
 216. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 215, wherein said user interface displayssaid parameters for each member of at least one board and/or an averagevalue of one or more of said parameters of said members of said at leastone board.
 217. A company board data processing method as in claim 215,further comprising processing parameters for a group of boards or boardmembers to determine at least one of one or more parameter totals, oneor more parameter averages and one or more parameter deviations, whereinsaid user interface displays at least one of said processed parametersfor at least one group of boards or board members to allow comparisonwith at least one board or board member.
 218. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 215, wherein said user interface displaysat least one of one or more totals, averages and deviations of saidparameters related to a group of board members or boards of to allowcomparison with at least one board or board member.
 219. A company Boarddata processing method as in claim 215, including ranking members of agroup of boards and/or board members based on relative value of saidparameters; wherein generating a user interface to display saidparameters of said boards and/or board members of said group to indicateranking.
 220. A company Board data processing method as in claim 217,including ranking groups of boards and/or board members based onrelative value of said processed parameters; wherein generating a userinterface to display said processed parameters of said groups of boardsand/or board members to indicate ranking.
 221. A company data processingmethod as in claim 217, wherein said group of boards or board memberscomprise a user selected and/or pre-defined group of boards or boardmembers assigned as a peer group.
 222. A company board data processingmethod as in claim 217, further comprising: receiving a user selectionof at least one board and/or board member for inclusion in a peer group;wherein said group of boards or board members comprises a user selectedgroup of boards or board members assigned as a peer group; parametersfor constituents of a peer group are processed to determine at least oneof one or more peer group parameter totals, one or more peer groupparameter averages and one or more peer group parameter deviations; andsaid user interface displays at least one of said processed peer groupparameters.
 223. A company board data processing method as in claim 222,further comprising receiving a user selection of at least one board forcomparison with at least one board peer group, and said user interfacedisplays the parameters related to members of said at least one selectedboard, to allow the board to be the subject of analysis.
 224. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 222, wherein said userinterface displays the parameters related to individual members of saidat least one selected board.
 225. A company board data processing methodas in claim 222, further comprising receiving a user selection of atleast one board member for comparison with said board member peer group,and said user interface displays the parameters related to said at leastone selected board member, to allow said at least one selected boardmember to be the subject of analysis.
 226. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 222, further comprising storing data forone or more user selected peer groups; wherein said user interfacedisplays a list of existing peer groups based on said stored peer groupdata; a user selection of one or more peer groups is received from saidlist; and said user interface displays at least one of said processedparameters for at least one of said selected peer groups.
 227. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 222, further comprisingreceiving a user amendment to the constituents of a peer group.
 228. Acompany board data processing method as in claim 227, further comprisingreceiving a user instruction to copy one or more constituents of a peergroup to another peer group.
 229. A company board data processing methodof claim 222, further comprising receiving a specific company or boardmember name as an input from a user, and searching for a particularboard in the board member store.
 230. A company board data processingmethod as in claim 229, further comprising receiving a user selection ofone or more parameters from a pre-defined list, and searching for aparticular board in said board member store.
 231. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 215, further comprising storingpre-defined groups of boards and/or board members comprising peer groupsand parameters related to said peer groups; wherein said user interfacedisplays a list of said pre-defined peer groups; further comprisingreceiving a user selection of one or more said pre-defined peer groupsfrom said list; and said user interface displays at least one of saidstored pre-defined peer group related parameters for said selectedpre-defined peer group.
 232. A company board data processing method asin claim 231, wherein said stored pre-defined peer group relatedparameters relate to at least one of one or more group parameter totals,one or more group parameter averages and one or more group parameterdeviations.
 233. A company board data processing system comprising aprogram member storing processor implementable instructions; and aprocessor for reading and implementing the instructions stored in theprogram memory; wherein the instructions stored in the program memorycomprise instructions for controlling the processor to implement themethod of claim
 215. 234. A carrier medium carrying computer readableinstructions for controlling the computer to carry out the method ofclaim
 215. 235. A company board data processing system comprising: aboard member store storing parameters related to board members of aplurality of boards; user selector means for receiving a user selectionof at least one board and/or board member for inclusion in a peer group;a parameter processor for processing parameters for constituents of apeer group to determine at least one of one or more peer group parametertotals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one or more peergroup parameter deviations; and output means for outputting at least oneof the processed peer group parameters.
 236. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 235, wherein said user selector means isarranged to receive a user selection of at least one board forcomparison with at least one of the board peer groups, and said outputmeans is adapted to output the parameters related to members of said atleast one selected board, to allow the or each board to be the subjectof analysis.
 237. A company board data processing system as in claim235, wherein said output means is adapted to output the parametersrelated to individual members of the or each selected board.
 238. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 235, wherein said userselector means is arranged to receive a user selection of at least oneboard member for comparison with the board member peer group, and saidoutput means is adapted to output the parameters related to said atleast one board member, to allow the or each board members to be thesubject of analysis.
 239. A company board data processing system as inclaim 235, further comprising a peer group data store storing data forone or more user selected peer groups; wherein said output means isadapted to output a list of existing peer groups based on said storedpeer group data; said user selector means is arranged to receive a userselection of one or more peer groups from said list; and said outputmeans is adapted to output at least one of said processed parameters forthe selected peer group.
 240. A company board data processing system asin claim 235, further comprising a comparison group amendment meansallowing a user to amend the constituents of said peer groups.
 241. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 240, wherein said peergroup amendment means is adapted to allow a user to copy one or moreconstituents of a peer group to another peer group.
 242. A company boarddata processing system as in claim 235, further comprising a searchingmeans arranged to allow a user to search for a particular board and/orboard member in said board member store by inputting a specific companyor board member name.
 243. A company board data processing system as inclaim 242, wherein said searching means is adapted to allow a user tosearch for a particular board and/or board member in said board memberstore by selecting one or more parameters from a pre-defined list. 244.A company board data processing system as in claim 235, furthercomprising: a store storing pre-defined groups of boards and/or boardmembers comprising peer groups and parameters related to said peergroups; wherein said output means is adapted to output a list of saidpre-defined peer groups; said user selector means is arranged to receivea user selection of one or more said pre-defined peer groups from saidlist; and said output means is adapted to output at least one of saidstored pre-defined peer group related parameters for said selectedpre-defined peer group.
 245. A company board data processing system asin claim 244, wherein said stored pre-defined peer group relatedparameters relate to at least one of one or more peer group parametertotals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one or more peergroup parameter deviations.
 246. A company board data processing methodcomprising: storing parameters related to board members of a pluralityof boards organised into boards; receiving a user selection of at leastone board and/or board member for inclusion in a peer group; processingparameters for constituents of a peer group to determine at least one ofone or more peer group parameter totals, one or more peer groupparameter averages and one or more peer group parameter deviations; andoutputting at least one of said processed peer group parameters.
 247. Acompany board data processing method as in claim 246, further comprisingreceiving a user selection of one or more boards for comparison with atleast one of said board related peer groups, wherein the parametersrelated to members of said board are output, to allow the board to bethe subject of analysis.
 248. A company board data processing method asin claim 246, wherein the parameters related to individual members ofthe or each selected board are output.
 249. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 246, further comprising receiving a userselection of one or more board members for comparison with said boardmember related peer group, wherein the parameters related to said boardmembers are output, to allow the board members to be the subject ofanalysis.
 250. A company board data processing method as in any one ofclaim 246, further comprising storing data for one or more user selectedpeer groups; outputting a list of existing peer groups based on saidstored peer group data; receiving a user selection of one or more peergroups from said list; and outputting at least one of said processedparameters for the selected peer group.
 251. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 246, further comprising receiving a useramendment to the constituents of said peer groups.
 252. A company boarddata processing method as in claim 251, further comprising receiving auser instruction to copy one or more constituents of a peer group toanother peer group.
 253. A company board data processing method as inclaim 246, further comprising receiving a specific company or boardmember name as an input from a user, and searching for a particularboard and/or board member in said board member store.
 254. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 253, further comprisingreceiving a user selection of one or more parameters from a pre-definedlist, and searching for a particular board and/or board member in saidboard member store.
 255. A company board data processing method as inclaim 246, further comprising storing pre-defined groups of boardsand/or board members comprising peer groups and parameters related tosaid peer groups; outputting a list of said pre-defined peer groups;receiving a user selection of one or more said pre-defined peer groupsfrom said list; and outputting at least one of said stored pre-definedpeer group related parameters for said selected pre-defined peer group.256. A company board data processing method as in claim 255, whereinsaid stored pre-defined peer group related parameters relate to at leastone of one or more peer group parameter totals, one or more peer groupparameter averages and one or more peer group parameter deviations. 257.A company board data processing system comprising a program memberstoring processor implementable instructions; and a processor forreading and implementing the instructions stored in the program memory;wherein the instructions stored in the program memory compriseinstructions for controlling the processor to implement the method ofclaim
 246. 258. A carrier medium carrying computer readable instructionsfor controlling the computer to carry out the method of claim
 246. 259.A company board data processing system comprising: a store storingpre-defined groups of boards and/or board members comprising peer groupsand pre-defined parameters related to said peer groups; output means foroutputting a list of said peer groups; and a user selector means forreceiving a user selection of one or more of said peer groups from saidlist; wherein said output means is adapted to output at least one ofsaid pre-defined parameters for the or each selected peer groups.
 260. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 259, wherein saidpre-defined parameters relate to at least one of one or more peer groupparameter totals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one ormore peer group parameter deviations.
 261. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 259, further comprising a parameterprocessor for processing parameters for constituents of a peer group todetermine at least one of one or more peer group parameter totals, oneor more peer group parameter averages and/or one or more peer groupparameter deviations; wherein said output means is adapted to output anyof said processed parameters.
 262. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 259, wherein said store stores parameters related toboard members of a plurality of boards organised into boards; said userselector means is arranged to receive a user selection of one or moresaid boards for comparison with any said board peer group; and saidoutput means is adapted to output the board member parameters for eachmember of said board individually, to allow the board to be the subjectof analysis.
 263. A company board data processing system as in claim259, wherein said user selector means is arranged to receive a userselection of at least one board member for comparison with any saidboard member peer group, said output means is adapted to output theparameters of said at least one board member, to allow the or each boardmember to be the subject of analysis.
 264. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 259, further comprising a comparison groupamendment means allowing a user to amend the constituents of said peergroups.
 265. A company board data processing system as in claim 264,wherein said peer group amendment means is adapted to allow a user tocopy one or more constituents of one said peer group to another saidpeer group.
 266. A company board data processing method comprising;storing pre-defined groups of boards and/or board members comprisingpeer groups and pre-defined parameters related to said peer groups;outputting a list of said peer groups; receiving a user selection of oneor more of said peer groups from said list; and outputting at least oneof said pre-defined parameters for the or each selected peer groups.267. A company board data processing method as in claim 266, whereinsaid pre-defined parameters relate to at least one of one or more peergroup parameter totals, one or more peer group parameter averages andone or more peer group parameter deviations.
 268. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 266, further comprising processingparameters for constituents of a peer group to determine at least one ofone or more peer group parameter totals, one or more peer groupparameter averages and/or one or more peer group parameter deviations;wherein any of said processed parameters are output.
 269. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 266, further comprising storingparameters related to board members of a plurality of boards organisedinto boards; receiving a user selection of at least one said board forcomparison with any said board peer group; and outputting the boardmember parameters for each member of said at least one boardindividually, to allow the or each board to be the subject of analysis.270. A company board data processing method as in claim 266, furthercomprising receiving a user selection of one or more board members forcomparison with any said board member peer group, and outputting theparameters of said board members, to allow the board members to be thesubject of analysis.
 271. A company board data processing method as inclaim 266, further comprising receiving a user amendment of theconstituents of said peer groups.
 272. A company board data processingmethod as in claim 271, further comprising receiving an instruction froma user to copy one or more constituents of one said peer group toanother said peer group.
 273. A company board data processing systemcomprising a program member storing processor implementableinstructions; and a processor for reading and implementing theinstructions stored in the program memory; wherein the instructionsstored in the program memory comprise instructions for controlling theprocessor to implement the method of claim
 266. 274. A carrier mediumcarrying computer readable instructions for controlling the computer tocarry out the method of claim
 266. 275. A company board data processingsystem comprising: a board member store storing board member relatedparameters for a plurality of board members; parameter deviationdetermining means for determining deviations of said board memberrelated parameters from pre-determined parameters; and a user interfacegenerator for generating a user interface to display at least one ofsaid board member related parameters highlighted in accordance with saiddetermined deviations.
 276. A company board data processing system as inclaim 275, wherein said user interface generator is arranged tohighlight each said board member related parameter in one of a pluralityof colours, wherein said colours relate to the relative value of saiddetermined deviations.
 277. A company board data processing system as inclaim 275, wherein said board member related parameters relate to one ormore parameter totals, one or more parameter averages and/or one or moreparameter deviations of a plurality of said board members.
 278. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 275, wherein saidpredetermined parameters relate to a group of said board members,comprising a peer group.
 279. A company board data processing system asin claim 278, wherein said predetermined parameters relate to at leastone of one or more totals, one or more averages and one or moredeviations of the parameters of the members of said peer group.
 280. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 275, further comprisinga parameter processor for processing parameters to determine at leastone of one or more totals, one or more averages and one or moredeviations for said pre-determined parameters; and wherein said userinterface generator is adapted to generate said user interface todisplay said processed parameters.
 281. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 275, wherein said parameter deviation determiningmeans is adapted to determine said deviations as a number of standarddeviations by which said board member related parameters differ fromsaid pre-determined parameters.
 282. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 275, wherein said user interface generator is adaptedto generate a user interface to display a table of data, comprising aplurality of cells, each cell containing a said board member relatedparameter or a said pre-determined parameter, wherein said userinterface generator is adapted to highlight said cells containing saidboard member related parameters in accordance with said determineddeviation.
 283. A company board data processing system as in claim 282,wherein said user interface generator is arranged to highlight each saidcell in one of a plurality of colours, wherein said colours relate tothe relative value of said determined deviations.
 284. A company boarddata processing system as in claim 275, wherein said pre-determinedparameters relate to a user selected and/or pre-defined group of boardmembers arranged into a peer group.
 285. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 284 further comprising: user selector means forreceiving a user selection of at least one board and/or board member forinclusion in a peer group; and a parameter processor for processingparameters for constituents of a peer group to determine saidpredetermined parameters as at least one of one or more peer groupparameter totals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one ormore peer group parameter deviations.
 286. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 285, wherein said user selector means isarranged to receive a user selection of one or more boards forcomparison with at least one of said board related peer groups, and saiduser interface generator is adapted to generate the user interface todisplay the parameters related to members of said board highlighted inaccordance with said determined deviation, to allow the board to be thesubject of analysis.
 287. A company board data processing system as inclaim 285, wherein said user interface generator is adapted to generatea user interface to display the parameters related to individual membersof the or each selected board highlighted in accordance with saiddetermined deviation.
 288. A company board data processing system as inclaim 285, wherein said user selector means is arranged to receive auser selection of at least one board member for comparison with theboard member peer group, and said user interface generator is adapted togenerate the user interface to display the parameters related to said atleast one board member highlighted in accordance with said determineddeviations, to allow the or each board member to be the subject ofanalysis.
 289. A company board data processing system as in claim 285,further comprising a peer group data store storing data for one or moreuser selected peer groups; wherein said user interface generator isadapted to generate a user interface to display a list of existing peergroups based on said stored peer group data; said user selector means isarranged to receive a user selection of one or more peer groups fromsaid list; and said user interface generator is adapted to generate theuser interface to display at least one of said processed parameters forat least one of said selected peer groups highlighted in accordance withsaid determined deviations.
 290. A company board data processing systemas in claim 285, further comprising a comparison group amendment meansallowing a user to amend the constituents of a peer group.
 291. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 290, wherein said peergroup amendment means is adapted to allow a user to copy one or moreconstituents of a peer group to another peer group.
 292. A company boarddata processing system as in claim 285, further comprising a searchingmeans arranged to allow a user to search for a particular board in theboard member store by inputting a specific company or board member name.293. A company board data processing system as in claim 292, whereinsaid searching means is adapted to allow a user to search for aparticular board in said board member store by selecting one or moreparameters from a pre-defined list.
 294. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 285, further comprising a store storing pre-definedgroups of boards and/or board members comprising peer groups andparameters related to said peer groups; wherein said user interfacegenerator is adapted to generate a user interface to display a list ofsaid pre-defined peer groups; including per group user selector meansarranged to receive a user selection of one or more said pre-definedpeer groups from said list; wherein said user interface generator isadapted to generate the user interface to display at least one of saidstored pre-defined peer group related parameters for said selectedpre-defined peer group.
 295. A company board data processing system asin claim 294, wherein said stored pre-defined peer group relatedparameters relate to at least one of one or more group parameter totals,one or more group parameter averages and one or more group parameterdeviations.
 296. A company board data processing method comprising:storing board member related parameters for a plurality of boardmembers; determining deviations of said board member related parametersfrom pre-determined parameters; and generating a user interface todisplay at least one of said board member related parameters highlightedin accordance with said determined deviations.
 297. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 296, wherein said user interface isgenerated to highlight each said board member related parameter in oneof a plurality of colours, wherein said colours relate to the relativevalue of said determined deviations.
 298. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 296, wherein said board member relatedparameters relate to one or more parameter totals, one or more parameteraverages and/or one or more parameter deviations of a plurality of saidboard members.
 299. A company board data processing method as in claim296, wherein said pre-determined parameters relate to a group of saidboard members, comprising a peer group.
 300. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 299, wherein said pre-determinedparameters relate to at least one of one or more totals, one or moreaverages and one or more deviations of the parameters of the members ofsaid peer group.
 301. A company board data processing method as in claim296, further comprising processing parameters to determine at least oneof one or more totals, one or more averages and one or more deviationsfor said pre-determined parameters; and wherein said user interfacedisplays said processed parameters.
 302. A company board data processingmethod as in claim 296, wherein said determined deviations comprise anumber of standard deviations by which said board member relatedparameters differ from said pre-determined parameters.
 303. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 296, wherein said userinterface displays a table of data comprising a plurality of cells, eachcell containing a said board member related parameter or a saidpre-determined parameter, said cells containing said board memberrelated parameters being highlighted in accordance with said determineddeviation.
 304. A company board data processing method as in claim 303,wherein said user interface highlights each said cell in one of aplurality of colours, wherein said colours relate to the relative valueof said determined deviations.
 305. A company board data processingmethod as in claim 296 wherein said pre-determined parameters relate toa user selected and/or pre-defined group of board members arranged intoa peer group.
 306. A company board data processing method as in claim305, further comprising: receiving a user selection of at least oneboard and/or board member for inclusion in a peer group; and processingparameters for constituents of a peer group to determine saidpredetermined parameters as at least one of one or more peer groupparameter totals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one ormore peer group parameter deviations.
 307. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 306, wherein a user selection of one ormore boards is received for comparison with at least one of said boardrelated peer groups, and said user interface displays the parametersrelated to members of said board highlighted in accordance with saiddetermined deviation, to allow the board to be the subject of analysis.308. A company board data processing method as in claim 306, whereinsaid user interface displays the parameters related to individualmembers of the or each selected board highlighted in accordance withsaid determined deviation.
 309. A company board data processing methodas in claim 306, wherein a user selection of at least one board memberis received for comparison with the board member peer group, and saiduser interface displays the parameters related to said at least oneboard member highlighted in accordance with said determined deviations,to allow the or each board member to be the subject of analysis.
 310. Acompany board data processing method as in claim 306, further comprisingstoring data for one or more user selected peer groups in a peer groupdata store; wherein said user interface displays a list of existing peergroups based on said stored peer group data; a user selection of one ormore peer groups from said list is received; and said user interfacedisplays at least one of said processed parameters for at least one ofsaid selected peer groups highlighted in accordance with said determineddeviations.
 311. A company board data processing method as in claim 306,further comprising receiving a user amendment of the constituents of apeer group.
 312. A company board data processing method as in claim 311,wherein an instruction is received from a user to copy one or moreconstituents of a peer group to another peer group.
 313. A company boarddata processing method as in claim 306, further comprising receiving aspecific company or board member name from a user to search for aparticular board in the board member store.
 314. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 313, wherein a user selection of one ormore parameters from a pre-defined list is received to search for aparticular board in said board member store.
 315. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 306, further comprising storingpre-defined groups of boards and/or board members comprising peer groupsand parameters related to said peer groups; wherein said user interfaceis generated to display a list of said pre-defined peer groups; a userselection of one or more said pre-defined peer groups from said list isreceived; and said user interface generates the user interface todisplay at least one of said stored pre-defined peer group relatedparameters for said selected pre-defined peer group.
 316. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 315, wherein said storedpre-defined peer group related parameters relate to at least one of oneor more group parameter totals, one or more group parameter averages andone or more group parameter deviations.
 317. A company board dataprocessing system comprising a program member storing processorimplementable instructions; and a processor for reading and implementingthe instructions stored in the program memory; wherein the instructionsstored in the program memory comprise instructions for controlling theprocessor to implement the method of claim
 296. 318. A carrier mediumcarrying computer readable instructions for controlling the computer tocarry out the method of claim
 296. 319. A company board data processingsystem comprising: a board member store storing board member relatedparameters for a plurality of boards; and a user interface generatorarranged to generate and display a multi axis plot of one or more ofsaid board member related parameters for one or more boards and/or boardmembers for comparison purposes.
 320. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 319, further comprising a processor for determining ascale for at least one axis on said multi axis plot based on at leastone of one or more totals, one or more averages and one or moredeviations of a plurality of said parameters; wherein said userinterface generator is adapted to display at least one axis on saidmulti axis plot with a scale equal to said determined scale.
 321. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 319, wherein said boardmember store stores said parameters such that said board members aregrouped into groups, and said user interface generator is arranged togenerate a display of a multi axis plot of at least one of one or moretotals, one or more averages or one or more deviations of saidparameters of one or more said groups.
 322. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 321, wherein said group comprises a board.323. A company board data processing system as in claim 321, furthercomprising a parameter processor adapted to process parameters for saidgroups to determine at least one of one or more group parameter totals,one or more group parameter averages and one or more group parameterdeviations; wherein said user interface generator is adapted to displaya plurality of said parameters and/or processed parameters on a multiaxis plot, showing each axis for a different parameter type.
 324. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 323, wherein saidprocessor is adapted to determine a scale of at least one axis on saidmulti axis plot based on a predetermined level of deviation of at leastone parameter already displayed on that axis from an average of aplurality of said stored and/or said processed parameters for a saidgroup or a plurality of boards and/or board members.
 325. A companyboard data processing system as in claim 323, wherein said parameterprocessor is adapted to determine the scale of at least one parameteraxis by determining a minimum axis value of −n standard deviations and amaximum axis value of +m standard deviations of at least one parameterdisplayed on that axis from an average of a plurality of stored and/orprocessed parameters related to said group or a plurality of boardsand/or board members, where n and m are integers.
 326. A company boarddata processing system as in claim 325, wherein said plurality of boardsand/or board members comprise all of said boards and/or board membersfrom a specific pre-defined geographic region.
 327. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 319 wherein said board member store storesparameters for at least some of said board members as a user selectedand/or pre-defined group of board members assigned as a peer group. 328.A company board data processing system as in claim 327 furthercomprising: user selector means for receiving a user selection of atleast one board and/or board member for inclusion in a peer group; aparameter processor for processing parameters for constituents of a peergroup to determine at least one of one or more peer group parametertotals, one or more peer group parameter averages and one or more peergroup parameter deviations; and said user interface generator is adaptedto generate the user interface to display a multi axis plot of one ormore said processed parameters related to said peer group.
 329. Acompany board data processing system as in claim 328, wherein said userselector means is arranged to receive a user selection of one or moreboards for comparison with at least one of said board peer groups, andsaid user interface generator is adapted to generate a user interface todisplay a multi axis plot of one or more parameters related to membersof said at least one board, to allow the or each board to be the subjectof analysis.
 330. A company board data processing system as in claim328, wherein said user interface generator is adapted to generate a userinterface to display a multi axis plot of the parameters related toindividual members of the or each selected board.
 331. A company boarddata processing system as in claim 328, wherein said user selector meansis arranged to receive a user selection of at least one board member forcomparison with said board member related peer group, and said userinterface generator is adapted to generate a user interface to display amulti axis plot of the parameters related to said at least one boardmember, to allow the or each board member to be the subject of analysis.332. A company board data processing system as in claim 328, whereinsaid user interface generator is adapted to generate a user interface todisplay a list of existing peer groups based on stored peer group datain said board member store; said user selector means is arranged toreceive a user selection of one or more peer groups from said list; andsaid user interface generator is adapted to generate a user interface todisplay a multi axis plot of at least one of said processed parametersfor at least one of said selected peer groups.
 333. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 328, further comprising a comparison groupamendment means allowing a user to amend the constituents of a peergroup.
 334. A company board data processing system as in claim 333,wherein said peer group amendment means is adapted to allow a user tocopy one or more constituents of a peer group to another peer group.335. A company board data processing system as in claim 328, furthercomprising a searching means arranged to allow a user to search for aparticular board in the board member store by inputting a specificcompany or board member name.
 336. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 335, wherein said searching means is adapted to allowa user to search for a particular board in said board member store byselecting one or more parameters from a pre-defined list.
 337. A companyboard data processing system as in claim 328, wherein said userinterface generator is adapted to generate a user interface to display alist of said pre-defined peer groups; said user selector means isarranged to receive a user selection of at least one said pre-definedpeer groups from said list; and said user interface generator is adaptedto generate a user interface to display a multi axis plot of at leastone of said stored pre-defined peer group related parameters for said atleast one selected pre-defined peer group.
 338. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 337, wherein said stored pre-defined peergroup related parameters relate to at least one of one or more groupparameter totals, one or more group parameter averages and one or moregroup parameter deviations.
 339. A company board data processing methodcomprising: storing board member related parameters for a plurality ofboards; and generating a user interface displaying a multi axis plot ofone or more of said board member related parameters for one or moreboards and/or board members for comparison purposes.
 340. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 339, further comprisingdetermining a scale for at least one axis on said multi axis plot basedon at least one of one or more totals, one or more averages and one ormore deviations of a plurality of said parameters; wherein said userinterface is generated to display at least one axis on said multi axisplot with a scale equal to said determined scale.
 341. A company boarddata processing method as in claim 339, wherein said parameters arestored such that said board members are grouped into groups, and saiduser interface is generated to display a multi axis plot of at least oneof one or more totals, one or more averages or one or more deviations ofsaid parameters of one or more said groups.
 342. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 341, wherein said group comprises a board.343. A company board data processing method as in claim 341, furthercomprising processing parameters for said groups to determine at leastone of one or more group parameter totals, one or more group parameteraverages and one or more group parameter deviations; wherein said userinterface is generated to display a plurality of said parameters and/orprocessed parameters on a multi axis plot, showing each axis for adifferent parameter type.
 344. A company board data processing method asin claim 343, wherein a scale of at least one axis on said multi axisplot is determined based on a predetermined level of deviation of atleast one parameter already displayed on that axis from an average of aplurality of said stored and/or said processed parameters for a saidgroup or a plurality of boards and/or board members.
 345. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 343, wherein the scale of atleast one parameter axis is determined by determining a minimum axisvalue of −n standard deviations and a maximum axis value of +m standarddeviations of at least one parameter displayed on that axis from anaverage of a plurality of stored and/or processed parameters related tosaid group or a plurality of boards and/or board members, where n and mare integers.
 346. A company board data processing method as in claim345, wherein said plurality of boards and/or board members comprise allof said boards and/or board members from a specific pre-definedgeographic region.
 347. A company board data processing method as inclaim 339 wherein said board member store stores parameters for at leastsome of said board members as a user selected and/or pre-defined groupof board members assigned as a peer group.
 348. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 347 further comprising: receiving a userselection of at least one board and/or board member for inclusion in apeer group; and processing parameters for constituents of a peer groupto determine at least one of one or more peer group parameter totals,one or more peer group parameter averages and one or more peer groupparameter deviations; wherein said user interface generates the userinterface to display a multi axis plot of one or more said processedparameters related to said peer group.
 349. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 348, wherein a user selection of one ormore boards is received for comparison with at least one of said boardpeer groups, and said user interface is generated to display a multiaxis plot of one or more parameters related to members of said at leastone board, to allow the or each board to be the subject of analysis.350. A company board data processing method as in claim 348, whereinsaid user interface is generated to display a multi axis plot of theparameters related to individual members of the or each selected board.351. A company board data processing method as in claim 348, wherein auser selection of at least one board member is received for comparisonwith said board member related peer group, and said user interface isgenerated to display a multi axis plot of the parameters related to saidat least one board member, to allow the or each board member to be thesubject of analysis.
 352. A company board data processing method as inclaim 348, wherein said user interface is generated to display a list ofexisting peer groups based on stored peer group data in said boardmember store; the method including receiving a user selection of one ormore peer groups from said list; wherein said user interface isgenerated to display a multi axis plot of at least one of said processedparameters for at least one of said selected peer groups.
 353. A companyboard data processing method as in claim 348, further comprisingreceiving a user amendment of the constituents of a peer group.
 354. Acompany board data processing method as in claim 353, wherein aninstruction is received from a user to copy one or more constituents ofa peer group to another peer group.
 355. A company board data processingmethod as in claim 348, further comprising receiving a specific companyor board member name from a user to search for a particular board in theboard member store.
 356. A company board data processing method as inclaim 355, wherein one or more parameters from a pre-defined listselected by a user is received to search for a particular board in saidboard member store.
 357. A company board data processing method as inclaim 348, wherein said user interface is generated to display a list ofsaid pre-defined peer groups; a user selection of at least one saidpre-defined peer groups from said list is received; and said userinterface is generated to display a multi axis plot of at least one ofsaid stored pre-defined peer group related parameters for said at leastone selected pre-defined peer group.
 358. A company board dataprocessing method as in claim 357, wherein said stored pre-defined peergroup related parameters relate to at least one of one or more groupparameter totals, one or more group parameter averages and one or moregroup parameter deviations.
 359. A company board data processing systemcomprising a program member storing processor implementableinstructions; and a processor for reading and implementing theinstructions stored in the program memory; wherein the instructionsstored in the program memory comprise instructions for controlling theprocessor to implement the method of claim
 339. 360. A carrier mediumcarrying computer readable instructions for controlling the computer tocarry out the method of claim
 339. 361. A company board data processingsystem comprising: access means for accessing a board member storestoring parameters related to board members of a plurality of boardsorganised into boards; and a user interface generator for generating auser interface displaying said parameters related to board members for aplurality of boards to allow comparison of boards, at board memberlevel, and/or board members of boards.
 362. A company board dataprocessing system as in claim 361, wherein said user interface generatoris adapted to generate said user interface to display at least one ofone or more totals, averages and deviations of said parameters relatedto a group of board members or boards to allow comparison with at leastone board or board member.
 363. A company board data processing methodcomprising: accessing a board member store storing parameters related toboard members of a plurality of boards organized into boards; andgenerating a user interface displaying said parameters related to boardmembers for a plurality of boards to allow comparison of boards, atboard member level, and/or board members of boards.
 364. A company boarddata processing method as in claim 363, wherein said user interface isgenerated to display at least one of one or more totals, averages anddeviations of said parameters related to a group of board members orboards to allow comparison with at least one board or board member. 365.A company board data processing system comprising: a program memorystoring processor implementable instructions; and a processor forreading and implementing the instructions stored in the program memory;wherein the instructions stored in the program memory compriseinstructions for controlling the processor to implement the method ofclaim
 363. 366. A carrier medium carrying computer readable instructionsfor controlling a computer to carry out the method of claim
 363. 367. Acompany board data processing system comprising: a store storing anumber of shares owned by at least one board member in a company inwhich they are a board member; means to determine current share price ofthe company in which said board member is a member of the board;processor to process said number of shares and said share price todetermine the value of said shares held by said board member; todetermine a wealth index value for at least one said board member,comprising an increase in wealth related to said company of said boardmember when said share price increases by one percent; and output meansfor outputting at least one of said determined wealth index values. 368.A company board data processing method comprising: storing a number ofshares owned by at least one board member in a company in which they area board member; determining current share price of the company in whichsaid board member is a member of the board; processing the number ofshares and the share price to determine the value of said shares held bysaid board member; determining a wealth index for at least one saidboard member, comprising an increase in wealth related to said companyof said board member when said share price increases by 1%; andoutputting at least one of said determined wealth index values.
 369. Acompany board data processing system, comprising: a store storinghistory information for a plurality of board members, said historyinformation including information on previous companies of which saidboard member has been a board member, and timing information; agraphical display device for generating a graphical display showingperformance data for companies together with the history data as a graphshowing when the board member was at each company to allow a user to seehow the companies have performed in relation to whether or not the boardmember was a member of the board for the company.
 370. A system foranalysing a created company board, comprising; a store for storingparameters related to a plurality of board members; user selection meansfor receiving a user selection of at least one board member forinclusion in at least one created company board; a parameter processorto generate board parameters for constituents of said created companyboard; and output means for outputting said board member parametersand/or said generated board parameters to allow the created board to bethe subject of analysis.
 371. A method of analyzing a created companyboard, comprising: storing parameters related to a plurality of boardmembers; receiving a user selection of at least one board member forinclusion in at least one created company board; generating boardparameters for constituents of said created company board; andoutputting said company member parameters and/or said generated boardparameters to allow the created board to be the subject of analysis.372. A system for analyzing a created company board, comprising: aprogram memory storing processor implementable instructions; and aprocessor for reading and implementing the instructions stored in theprogram memory; wherein the instructions stored in the program memorycomprise instructions for controlling the processor to implement themethod of claim
 371. 373. A carrier medium carrying computer readableinstructions for controlling a computer to carry out the method of claim371.
 374. A board member level recruitment and analysis tool comprising:a store storing parameters related to a plurality of board members; userselection means for receiving a user selection of at least one boardmember to be the subject of analysis, and a user selection of at leastone other board member to be used as a comparison in board memberanalysis; and a display generator arranged to display the parameters ofsaid at least one user selected board member subject to analysis andsaid at least one user selected comparison board member to allowrecruitment related comparison of the two sets of parameters.
 375. Aboard member level recruitment and analysis tool as in claim 374,further comprising: a processor for processing said board memberparameters to determine at least one of one or more parameter totals,one or more parameter averages and one or more parameter deviations fora plurality of said user selected board members; wherein said displaygenerator is adapted to display said processed parameters.
 376. A boardmember level recruitment and analysis method comprising: storingparameters related to a plurality of board members; receiving a userselection of at least one board member to be the subject of analysis,and a user selection of at least one other board member to be used as acomparison in board member analysis; and displaying the parameters ofsaid at least one user selected board member subject to analysis andsaid at least one user selected comparison board member to allowrecruitment related comparison of the two sets of parameters.
 377. Aboard member level recruitment and analysis system, comprising: aprogram memory storing processor implementable instructions; and aprocessor for reading and implementing the instructions stored in theprogram memory; wherein the instructions stored in the program memorycomprise instructions for controlling the processor to: store parametersrelated to a plurality of board members; receive a user selection of atleast one board member to be the subject of analysis, and a userselection of at least one other board member to be used as a comparisonin board member analysis; and displaying the parameters of said at leastone user selected board member subject to analysis and said at least oneuser selected comparison board member to allow recruitment relatedcomparison of the two sets of parameters.
 378. A company board dataprocessing system comprising: a board member store storing board membernames for a plurality of board members organized into boards;association determining means for determining associations between saidboard members; a user interface generator for generating a userinterface to display at least one of said board member names and acorresponding list of said determined associations for said boardmember.
 379. A company board data processing system as in claim 378,wherein said association determining means is adapted to determine anassociation to exist between two board members when said two boardmembers both serve on the same two or more independent boards together.380. A company board data processing system as in claim 378, whereinsaid association determining means is adapted to determine anassociation to exist between two boards when one board member serves onsaid two boards at the same time.
 381. A company board data processingsystem as in claim 378, wherein said association determining means isadapted to determine indirect associations between two or more boardsand/or board members via a plurality of other associations; and saiduser interface generator is adapted to generate a user interface todisplay at least one board and/or board member and a list of saidnetwork of determined associations to at least one other board and/orboard member.
 382. A company board data processing system as in claim378, wherein said user interface generator is adapted to generate a userinterface to display a list of board members and/or boards based on saidstored board member data; further comprising a user selector means forreceiving a user selection of two or more boards and/or board membersfrom said list; wherein said user interface generator is adapted togenerate a user interface to display said names of said boards and/orboard members and a list of said determined associations between saidboards and/or board members.
 383. A company board data processing systemas in claim 381, wherein said user interface generator is adapted togenerate a user interface to display a list of board members and/orboards based on said stored board member data; further comprising a userselector means for receiving a user selection of two or more boardsand/or board members from said list; wherein said user interfacegenerator is adapted to generate a user interface to display said namesof said boards and/or board members and a list of said determinedindirect associations between said boards and/or board members.
 384. Acompany board data processing method comprising: storing board membernames for a plurality of board members organized into boards;determining associations between said board members; generating a userinterface to display at least one of said board member names and acorresponding list of said determined associations for said boardmember.
 385. A company board data processing method as in claim 384,wherein said determining of associations includes determining anassociation to exist between two board members when said two boardmembers both serve on the same two or more independent boards together.386. A company board data processing method as in claim 384, whereinsaid determining of associations includes determining an association toexist between two boards when one board member serves on said two boardsat the same time.
 387. A company board data processing method as inclaim 384 further comprising; determining indirect associations betweentwo or more boards and/or board members via a plurality of otherassociations; wherein said user interface displays at least one boardand/or board member and a list of said network of determinedassociations to at least one other board and/or board member.
 388. Acompany board data processing method as in claim 384, wherein said userinterface displays a list of board members and/or boards based on saidstored board member data; further comprising receiving a user selectionof two or more boards and/or board members from said list; and inresponse to said user selection said user interface displays said namesof said selected boards and/or board members and a list of saiddetermined associations between said boards and/or board members.
 389. Acompany board data processing method as in claim 387, wherein said userinterface displays a list of board members and/or boards based on saidstored board member data; further comprising receiving a user selectionof two or more boards and/or board members from said list; and inresponse to said user selection said user interface displays said namesof said selected boards and/or board members and a list of saiddetermined indirect associations between said boards and/or boardmembers.
 390. A company board data processing system comprising aprogram member storing processor implementable instructions; and aprocessor for reading and implementing the instructions stored in theprogram memory; wherein the instructions stored in the program memorycomprise instructions for controlling the processor to implement themethod of claim
 378. 391. A carrier medium carrying computer readableinstructions for controlling the computer to carry out the method ofclaim
 378. 392. A method of fund management using the system of claim 1.393. A method of fund management using the system of claim
 235. 394. Amethod of fund management using the system of claim
 259. 395. A methodof fund management using the system of claim
 275. 396. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 319. 397. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 361. 398. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 367. 399. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 369. 400. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 370. 401. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 374. 402. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 375. 403. A method of fundmanagement using the system of claim
 378. 404. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 1. 405. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 235. 406. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 259. 407. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 275. 408. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 319. 409. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 361. 410. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 367. 411. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 369. 412. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 370. 413. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 374. 414. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim
 375. 415. A method of recruitingboard members using the system of claim 378.